Curiosity
by SeattleGirl359
Summary: Beth's curiosity gets the best of her when it comes to this handsome redneck that shows up at the family farm. She has a hard time resisting him and needs to know more about him. Daryl and Beth end up with this undeniable connection that neither of them can ignore, starting back at the farm.
1. Chapter 1

_****__**Summary: Beth's curiosity gets the best of her when it comes to this handsome redneck that shows up at the family farm. She has a hard time resisting him and needs to know more about him. Daryl and Beth end up with undeniable connection that neither of them can ignore starting back at the farm.  
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_**So basically this is my twist on what could have happened back in season 2. Some details will be changed around for the sake of the plot. Beth doesn't really believe that there will be a cure and she's not as innocent and shy as some may think. Beth is still underage so if that bothers you, I would advise you not to read because, yes, there will be smut. Because it's impossible for me to write a story without it ;)  
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You could say that Beth was more than curious about Daryl. The very moment that she saw him drive towards the house on his motorcycle, she knew that her uncontrollable curiosity would get the best of her. But that's what happened when a guy rode up on a noisy bike in the middle of the apocalypse and took out a crossbow, clearly skilled with using it. She couldn't help but be fascinated by him. She could instantly tell that he was different from the rest of the group who had rode up to the family farm.

She liked different.

In the time that they had been at the farm, Beth had watched as Daryl would go off by himself and do whatever he pleased, away from the group he had traveled to the farm with. He was a man of mystery to her. She often wondered what he did half the time that he was by himself, what he thought about.

He was more closed off than the rest. She could tell that there was an underlying reason behind it, one that was not openly shared. She wanted to know why, wanted to know everything about him for some reason that she could not place her finger on. Daryl intrigued her like no other had ever done before.

See the thing is that Beth was wildly attracted to Daryl. Something about once glance in his direction made her skin crawl with excitement and occasionally goose bumps would even appear. Her heart raced if he was in the same room as her. Even the sound of his low and gruff voice made the butterflies in her stomach go crazy. All she wanted to do was stare at him all day long.

They had barely interacted since he had been at the farm. Beth had not said more than a grand total of five words to him directly. She would have liked to have said more but found that she didn't have much to say. There were no excuses for her to use to get him into a conversation, though she had a feeling that he was not the chatty type. His introverted nature tipped her off on that.

But that was something that they had in common. Beth, too, thought of herself as an introvert. She loved nothing more than to be holed up in her room with a good book for hours on end, away from people and away from any noise. She enjoyed time alone; liked being in her own head. People often thought that she was shy, but she really was not. Beth opted to stay quiet because she liked to observe more than interact.

So instead of striking up some dreaded and pointless small talk, Beth watched Daryl from a distance, stealing glances whenever she could. He was so beautiful, in her opinion. His lean muscles, those blue eyes, and tall stature. She was infatuated with him, despite not really knowing him, as crazy as that sounded. She knew that he was much older than her but she couldn't care less about that. It only added to the allure.

In the little time that he had been on the farm, Beth had advanced from normal farm girl to Daryl Dixon stalker practically overnight. He never really seemed to notice when she stared at him though. Only a few times had she looked over to find that his eyes were on her already before he had quickly averted them somewhere else, which spiked her interest further.

Maybe the attraction was not one-sided.

But that was just a hopeful guess for now.

It was early morning and Beth watched from the kitchen window as Daryl's arm muscles moved when grabbed up his crossbow and headed away from Dale, who had these crazy eyes going on as he observed Daryl trudge off. Daryl headed off in the direction of the stables and Beth pondered if he was going to hijack one of their horses without asking and go off in search of Carol's little girl.

Her heart warmed at the thought of him being so caring, even if he didn't recognize it himself. Daryl was a man of many layers.

"You're staring," Andrea said, catching Beth in her gaze out the kitchen window as her head followed Daryl's advances towards the stables.

Beth sighed as she dried one of the clean plates that Andrea handed over to her. "I can't help it. He's gorgeous," she admitted, the words slipping out. She didn't really care about the confession. She was more than willing to have her desires be known.

Andrea snorted and went back to rinsing off the dishes that had piled up. Somehow they both had gotten stuck with kitchen duty that morning.

"What?"

Andrea looked over at her as if Beth had just told her that she had escaped from a mental institution. "Daryl Dixon? You think Daryl is…_gorgeous_?"

"Yes," she shamelessly replied. "So handsome."

This time Andrea laughed out of loud, getting some of the bubbles on her shirt as she cracked up at whatever seemed to be so funny to her. Beth grabbed the plate out of her hands before she dropped it onto the ground.

"I'm glad you think it's so hilarious, Andrea."

Andrea took a moment to compose herself. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be laughing." She turned around on her heels and leaned her back up against the kitchen sink, her hands gripping the edge. "He just doesn't seem like the kind of guy you would find attractive, that's all. I mean, it's Daryl that we are talking about here. Would've thought he would have scared you off by now with his less than charming attitude and shut down personality. "

"You don't think he's handsome?" Beth questioned. It was kind of hard for her to believe that she did not think the same way that Beth did.

Andrea gave her another look, similar to the one before. "Um, no. Daryl is _Daryl_. I don't know what to tell you. He's got a temper and an attitude that would drive anyone crazy."

Beth stared into the sink full of soapy water and thought about what Andrea had told her. Surely, there was a reason behind this so called temper and attitude and no one had bothered to try and understand where it was coming from. She had seen it appear a few times during his stay at the farm, but not enough to come to a definitive conclusion about what caused the two traits to seemingly come out of the blue. In most cases, it looked like he had been provoked or metaphorically backed into a corner for his naturally quieter nature to turn into the opposite.

These people must be oblivious to the fact that Daryl didn't just wake up and decide to let his temper flare or an attitude to be brought forth. She knew there was no way that he was constantly like that. If he was that guy then how could anyone explain him being out and about trying to look for Sophia day after day? Obviously, the guy had a heart and he cared.

And obviously no one noticed that.

People were always so quick to pick up on the bad stuff rather than the good.

And truth be told, Beth didn't mind that Daryl had a bit of a temper or an attitude. In fact, she kind of liked that, too. Another thing she could add to the list of qualities she found interesting about him.

Andrea let out a short giggle before she picked up a dirty dish and put it under the faucet with some soap. "Listen, if you want to crush on Daryl, you go right ahead. He's a pain in the ass if you ask me. I feel like I need to tell you that he's not exactly friendly. And no wonder when his brother is the way he is."

Beth perked up. "He has a brother?"

Andrea's mouth popped open before she snapped it shut quickly. She ran some more water under the plates and handed another one over to Beth to dry. She absently ran the dish towel over the soaked plate, otherwise interested in what Andrea was about to say about Daryl's brother. It was another piece of information that Beth would be able to have on Daryl.

"His brother," Beth urged.

"Daryl's brother, Merle, was not a great guy," she explained, lowering her voice before she turned to look at Beth. "Between me and you, we had to leave Merle in Atlanta handcuffed to a rooftop because he got so out of control and was a threat to us all. Rick, Daryl, T-Dog, and Glenn all went back for him later but when they got there was nothing but a hand left behind."

Beth scrunched up her face. "A _hand_?"

Andrea simply nodded, sharing the disgust. "Cut it off himself before anyone got to him. Then he took off. We don't know where he is now. Not even the slightest clue where he would have gone." Andrea looked over her shoulder to make sure that no one else was in the room. "Let's hope it stays that way."

"Sounds like Daryl is better off without him then," Beth stated honestly.

"Believe me, he is."

Beth and Andrea finished up cleaning the dishes and putting them away until they would be used next.

"Hey, thanks for tellin' me about Daryl's brother and what happened when you were in Atlanta. Thanks for trusting me with the information I guess is what I should really be sayin'. My dad wouldn't be too happy if he knew about that."

Andrea grinned at her. "I do trust you enough to keep it a secret."

Beth smiled. Everyone trusted her with their secrets. She didn't know why they did but she liked that people felt comfortable enough around her to spill out confidential information that certain other individuals should not be made aware of (aka her father). There was no way she would tell him about the handcuffing Merle to a roof story. He already had some reservations about the new group on their farm, and she was not going to give him any reason to make him doubt their presence.

"What was Atlanta like?"

Andrea let out a gloomy sigh. "Horrible," she relayed, turning to Beth. "There was nothing left of it."

How sad. An entire once populous and thriving city gone.

Why did this even happen? She doubted anyone would ever know with the way the world was now. Maybe they didn't want to know how this all started. Perhaps it was best left unknown.

She went back to thinking about Daryl, a happier subject to her. She wanted to know who this mysterious, crossbow wielding guy was. From her own observations and Andrea's descriptions of his demeanor, he sounded like a real challenge.

Maybe she was up for the challenge.

—

Beth heard the shotgun go off in the distance. It startled her enough that she dropped the book that was in her hands and let it fall into her lap with a jolt. She immediately threw her legs over her bed and raced over to her window. She couldn't see anything from that angle, but she heard Rick's voice scream, "No!"

_Oh, God._

Beth unhinged the latches on her bedroom window to unlock them as fast as she could, pushing the window upwards as it squeaked from not being opened in so long. She yanked the outer screen that acted as a barrier to keep bugs out of the house from its place and tossed it onto the floor. Beth then stuck her head and shoulders outside of the window, her hands firmly planted on the window sill. She tilted her head in the direction the noise had come from, letting her ponytail align vertically with the ground below.

That's when she saw the horror.

Her eyes went wide as she saw the figures of Rick and Shane dragging Daryl's body towards the house as Glenn pointed to something around Daryl's neck, only to have Rick tear it off him and toss it onto the ground beside him.

Her heart dropped out of her chest.

Beth pulled herself back into the house, careful not to hit her head as she retracted backwards, and yelled, "Daddy!"

Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she ran through the house to find her father.

"What is it?"

Her father came around the corner in a hurry, a look of extreme concern on his face. "It's Daryl!" she yelled, not realizing how loud she was. "I think he's been shot!"

His eyes widened, observing her panicked state. "Quick, Bethy. Go get my supplies ready in the other room."

Beth only nodded before she took off in the opposite direction to get her father's medical tools. Beth assumed that her father meant one of the guest bedrooms that had virtually been left untouched for some time. She opened the door to the bedroom right next to hers so she could easily get through the door with the arm full of supplies she needed to go get.

She snatched up all the supplies needed in two trips and dropped them all onto a table she cleared with the side of her arm, pushing the few books that were originally on it to the floor. She then pulled the table across the room and next to the bed. Her shaky hands arranged the medical supplies more neatly alongside the rubbing alcohol before she rushed into the bathroom that was adjacent to the room and threw open the closet door, taking out a number of towels.

She crossed back into the hallway, hearing the front door swing open and heavy feet thud against the floorboards.

"Oh my gosh," she heard her sister proclaim from below. "What in the world happened?"

Beth hurried back into the room to set down the towels. She threw off the comforter that was on top of the bed and stripped it of the blanket that was layered on as well so all that was left was the pillows and the sheets.

Her father came in and inspected the work she had done. "Alright, put him in here," he instructed to the men who carried Daryl.

She got a glimpse of Daryl as he was dragged into bedroom and then laid down onto the bed, now unconscious. She was shocked by the amount of blood and dirt that covered his limp body and clothes. She was horrified by how beat up he looked.

"Daddy, you can fix him right?"

Even her voice was shaky, much like her hands.

He examined Daryl. "It's not as bad as it looks, Beth, don't you worry. It's just a graze to the head. I'll do my best," he replied. "Now I need everyone but Rick out of here so I can get started. I can't have a crowded room."

Only when Shane began to exit did she start to go as well. She looked back when she heard her dad say, "Now, what do we have here?"

She had turned to see Daryl's shirt lifted up to the middle of his stomach and what her father had referred to was the larger wound that was dripping with blood from Daryl's side.

"You sure you don't need me?" Beth asked. She wanted to stay to make sure that Daryl was going to be okay and if she could be of any assistance.

"He'll be fine, Beth. You go on downstairs with the rest. I'm going to be a while. It'll take some time to get these patched up."

She had no other choice but to believe him and leave the room.

—

It must be in Beth's nature to be overly curious. So she slipped out of the house when no one was looking later on in the evening and trudged off through the tall grass and away from the house. She wanted to know what it was that Rick had pulled off of Daryl as they brought him towards the house.

She got closer to where she assumed whatever it was had been tossed onto the ground. She searched around the area, turning her eyes back to the house a few times to make sure that no one had followed her or was watching her. She moved around, eyes peeled for something other than the overgrown grass or weeds.

She shied away from where the blood was. Daryl's blood. Hell, her own blood boiled at the thought of Andrea shooting him by accident. She pushed that aside, though, and focused on what she came out there to do. Hopefully someone would take that gun away from Andrea before she mistook someone else as one of the dead. (It was kind of funny, in a morbid way).

Beth walked away from the small amount of blood that stained the ground. She saw something hidden in the grass as she moved away, walking in the direction she remembered the two men dragging Daryl had gone in. It was hard to see because of the overgrowth so she stooped down into a squat to examine what it was that Rick did not want anyone else to see. That was the only reason Beth could think of as to why he would have disposed of what was on Daryl before he came into the house.

Beth squinted her eyes because there was no way that what she saw was actually there. With her thumb and her pointer finger, she carefully picked it up to bring it out of the grass.

Yup. It was definitely a necklace made of ears.

"Ugh," Beth grimaced.

She straightened her legs back up, rising back out of the tall grass to stand. She held up the necklace into the light to make sure that she was not hallucinating, then laughed at the gory thing that she had in her hand. What could have possibly gone through that man's head to make him want to wear something like that and to want to cut off ears to create it?

Walker ears on a string. How weird.

The newest additions to their farm called the dead by the name of walkers, which is strange to her but she didn't mind the name. It was better than calling them what they really were—dead flesh eating killers who were once living and breathing human beings. Beth's mother was one of them—a walker—along with her brother Shawn. The both of them were locked up in their barn along with more than two dozen other people who were once their friends and neighbors.

Not anymore. Now they were just walkers. Things that wanted to kill and destroy.

Beth pushed the thoughts away because it angered her that her father could not see that they were a threat to everyone on the farm. He would shut her and Maggie down every time they tried to talk some sense into him, to try and reason with him. None of the new group members were to be told about the huge threat they had locked into their barn. Beth wasn't so sure about keeping the secret. It seemed wrong for them to keep this from the new group members. But for now she would, only to keep the peace.

The sun was about to dip below the horizon so Beth started to make her way back to her house to help get dinner ready for everyone. With the necklace bunched up behind her back to keep hidden, her fingers grazed the blades of grass.

Daryl and her were going to have a lot to talk about when he woke up. Because of that thought alone, she smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

Beth drummed her fingers on the wooden desk that she had in her room that was littered with various books that she had read and enjoyed rereading on occasion. Daryl was in the other room right next to her and she found it hard to ignore the constant desire to go in and check on him. There was a force that wanted her to go see him, even for just a second.

Her daddy had said that Daryl was all stitched up now and that he was conscious again. Daryl had said that he was thrown off their horse, Nellie, and fell down a side of a hill where one of his own arrows had pierced through his side and right and out through the other.

Ouch.

She didn't know how he managed to get back up the hill and walk all the way back to the farm. It must have taken a lot of strength and determination.

It was also so brave of him, and that made the corners of her lips turn up into a proud smile.

Beth turned around and started to pace across the wooden floorboards in her room, avoiding the ones that squeaked. He was probably sleeping by now but maybe she could just quickly peek in to make sure he was still breathing. That, and to get a glimpse of him while he slept. She imagined that he was a peaceful sleeper. The rowdy ones always were.

Just then she heard someone go into the room next door. She swiftly tiptoed across the room , though that did not matter because no one would have heard her anyways, and stuck her ear against the wall after pulling some loose hairs away, attempting to hear who it was and if Daryl was awake.

There were muffled voices in the other room but she could tell that two people were talking. She waited for the door to close again before she opened her own to see Carol walk by, smiling at her as she passed to go back down the stairs.

"G'night," Carol said to her. "Sweet dreams."

"Thanks. Same to you," Beth replied.

Beth did a silent prayer as Carol descended down the steps that they would find her daughter. She had a habit of saying a quick prayer every time that Carol would walk by or one of the group members would refer to Sophia.

Maybe it would help.

Beth gathered up the nerve to go back into her room and snatch up the ear necklace that was hidden away out of sight in a shoe box under her bed. She didn't know where else to put it before so she had quickly thrown it into the box and stored it underneath where she slept so no one would find it by accident. It was not the best hiding spot, but it sufficed.

They didn't gross her out anymore. Beth had a strong stomach. She had watched a ton of surgeries where doctors performed lifesaving operations on her laptop before the internet went out and the outbreak took over. Beth believed that she wanted to be a nurse before the outbreak. It made sense. She liked to help people and blood didn't scare her off. So several walker ears strung together was not that big of an issue to her. After all, it was not like she had to touch the ear part anyways.

Beth hid the necklace behind her back as she escaped into the hallway. Her hand hovered over the doorknob to the next room before she forced herself to quietly open it and peeked her head around the door.

Daryl was there with his back turned to her, sheets pulled up around him. She admired him for a second. The room was so peaceful and an injured Daryl laid in the bed quietly, his breathing slow. She wondered what he was thinking about right then. Beth always wondered that. Always curious about what was going on inside his mind.

She wished that he could be thinking about her.

The door creaked as Beth inadvertently swung it open a bit further when she was lost in thought. It startled Daryl, and he snapped his head over, surprised to see her there.

"Hi," she greeted.

Daryl looked over at her. She saw the flicker of confusion that played out across his face, which she understood since the two of them never interacted much before. And now here she was, barging into the room he would be staying in for the next few days. Right next to her room. She couldn't have asked for a better arrangement.

"Hi," he said back.

Daryl looked ten times better than before, even with the white gauze around his head, which she noted made him look quite cute. He was cleaner than before, his face not covered in mud or blood.

As he flipped to his other side to face her, Beth also quickly noted that Carol must have brought him dinner up, one that Beth had worked hard on because she knew that Daryl would need it. The bowl of dinner remained untouched at the bedside table, which was understandable since Carol literally dropped it off five seconds ago before Beth had jumped at the chance to catch Daryl in an awake state.

"How do you feel?"

Dumb question. The man fell off a cliff and got a punctured by and arrow, then walked all the way back only to get shot by Andrea. It's not like he was going to feel like a ray of sunshine.

"Alright, I guess. Got some wicked painkillers to help me out. Your daddy stitched me up real good."

Beth bit her lip as she stared at the bandage that was wrapped around Daryl's head. He looked adorable all tucked up tight with the covers pulled up with his hair messy from the placement of the white gauze.

"You need somethin'?" he abruptly asked, self-conscious from her gaze.

Beth made the decision to close the door behind her and step into the dimly lit room, not afraid of his gruff tone. "Just wanted to make sure you were alive in here. You looked pretty bad when you first came in. Shane and Rick dragged you all the way in here because you lost consciousness, but you probably already knew that."

"You stay in here when he stitched me?" Daryl asked with his voice laced with a guarded tone, almost not letting her finish her sentence. The way he said it gave her the impression that there was something to hide and he did not want Beth knowing about it.

She was not going to press him for answers on that, though.

"No," she quietly said. "Me and Shane left. It was just my dad and Rick in here."

The news of that relaxed Daryl a bit. She wondered why he was so uptight about the possibility of her being in here when her father stitched him up earlier. Was it because he would have been shirtless? Maybe one day she would find out.

She knew that he had an impressive set of abs that he kept hidden underneath his shirt. She had caught the glimpse of some of the muscles when he stretched and his shirt drifted up when they first go to the farm.

She practically fainted when that happened.

It's just that Daryl was a man. He wasn't like any of the young teenage boys that Beth was used to being around, who were tall but lanky, and with no real muscle tone. Daryl was different. He had muscular arms that Beth wanted to be around her, holding her tight. He was strong and did what had to be done. He was the first man to make Beth stare and fantasize about.

And once again, she was lost in another world.

There was a silence that passed between them, one that seemed to make Daryl slightly uncomfortable, but one that Beth did not mind at all. She realized then that she could sit in a room with this man and have no words spoken between them at all and that would be enough to make her eternally happy.

Beth broke the silence by taking the conversation a different route.

"I like your taste in accessories," she joked, holding up the necklace made of walker ears into the light so he was able to make out what it was that she dangled out between them.

Daryl's eyes flashed to hers, to the necklace, and then back to her before he pulled the covers up so they were bunched around his mouth, smirking into the sheets. It might be the best damn thing her eyes have ever seen—Daryl Dixon shyly smiling and attempting to hide it from her.

"You can keep 'em if you want," he responded.

Beth smiled. She would like to see the look on her sister's face if Beth put the string of walker ears around her neck and paraded around the house.

She coyly replied to the generous offer with, "No, that's okay. I imagine they look better on you."

Beth had zero intention of giving the gross necklace back to Daryl because who knew what he would do with it. But she was not quite sure what to do with it herself. Throw it out? What if someone found it in the waste basket? Maybe she could just toss it into the woods or something.

Whatever. She'd figure it out later.

"How'd you get 'em?"

Beth glanced back over at Daryl. "I saw Rick take something off of you when they were bringin' you towards the house. Wanted to know what it was," she admitted, not embarrassed by her curious actions.

Daryl snorted. "You gonna give them back to me?"

She wasn't sure if he was serious or not but that didn't stop her from giving the honest answer of, "Nope."

Daryl pulled the sheet away from where it was bunched up near his chin, flipping onto his back to better examine Beth. His eyes narrowed at her, inspecting her as she now stood at the corner of the end of the bed. She didn't remember how she got over there, didn't remember her feet hitting the floor. Her hands gripped a little bit tighter onto the wooden frame that was at the foot of the bed.

She saw how he glanced her up and down in a sharp movement that was meant to not be seen by her. It made her tingly all over her body. His eyes on her made her more nervous than she would have expected. She never got nervous around boys. But Daryl was no boy, she reminded herself. He was a man. A man who gave her a soft prickling sensation all through her body when he looked at her.

"You tired?" she asked, her eyes trailing back up to Daryl's after she had averted them down to the sheets.

"Not anymore," he replied in a low voice. His eyes widened a bit, and then he quickly added, "Been sleepin' all day in and out. Ain't much else to do other than sleep."

Beth had an idea.

"Hang tight. I'll be right back."

Beth went back into her room and opened her nightstand where she kept several of her all-time favorite books, keeping them readily accessible if she needed to escape into a fictional world.

She crossed back into the guest room and handed over the book she picked out for him. Daryl examined the cover and then panned through the pages. "What's it about?"

"Boy who meets girl and they fall in love and live happily ever after," she teased.

She acquired a glare from Daryl, who thought she was actually serious about the plot line of the book she gave him.

"I'm kidding!" Beth sat down on the edge of the bed. "It's a murder mystery. The ending is really twisted. You won't see it comin'."

Daryl pushed his lips together, turning his attention back to the nearly four hundred page novel Beth had given him to pass the time.

"It's one of my favorites," she affirmed. It was true. She had read it at least ten times even though she knew how everything turned out at the end. She read it in one sitting when she had first gotten home after she picked it up from the bookstore after a day trip with Maggie into Atlanta. "I could probably recite a majority of the passages. That's how much I love it. Chapter one jumps right into the action."

Daryl turned his head, their eyes meeting again. More goose bumps ran up her arms but she made no attempt to make them go away.

"Wouldn't take you as a kind of girl who'd be wantin' to read 'bout murder and gore. Seem more like one them damn romance novel types."

Beth weakly shrugged. "_Pride and Prejudice_ was great and all but I prefer more mystery, more action, and more suspense. You know, a book that you can't put down because you gotta know what happens next."

"Hm," he let out. "Interestin'."

Beth bit her lip and watched as Daryl flipped through the pages again, this time more intrigued.

Just then, the door swung open with force and startled both of them. Maggie poked her head in, not seemingly surprised to see that Beth was in the room with Daryl. Both Daryl and Beth's eyes snapped up to Maggie's intrusive entrance into the room, without knocking. Beth felt a twinge of anger towards her sister for interrupting her time with Daryl.

"I need your help, Beth. Can you come here?"

Beth begrudgingly got up from the bed and made her way over to where her sister was intently staring at her. She twisted her head back to Daryl, who was watching her leave, who then averted his eyes back to the first page of the book that he was opened to.

"Enjoy the story," she gently added before exiting.

Beth's smile fell into a scowl now that she was out of the room with the door closed behind her and alone with Maggie.

"What are you doin' in there?" her sister questioned in a low whisper, arms crossing over each other.

Beth held her head up high and walked over to her room, where she pulled the doorknob to open it. The two girls entered, Maggie quickly shutting the door once they were both in. "Nothin'. I was just makin' sure he was okay. I gave him a book. Jeez. Didn't know it was illegal to talk to him."

"Beth," she started. "I'm your sister. I can see that you like him. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy—"

"Do I question you about your preference in men?" she asked the rhetorical question, upset with her older sister. "Do I question you every time you look over at _Glenn_? Or sneak off in the middle of the night with him?"

Maggie's eyes got wide. It's almost insulting that she thought that Beth didn't know she was running around the farm with the guy.

"The walls ain't made of stone, Maggie."

Her sister took a step back, realizing that she should not begin to lecture Beth about men and who Beth should be hanging around when Maggie was the one who was sneaking around having sex with Glenn whenever she could. And seriously, all Beth was doing what talking to Daryl because she liked him. Maggie acted like she was in there hopped on top of Daryl, trying to coax him into taking her virginity.

Sometimes the overprotectiveness irritated Beth. She knew it came from a good place but it was still annoying when she was treated like a child.

"Alright," Maggie finally concluded. "Sorry. Please don't tell daddy about Glenn."

Beth rolled her eyes at her sister's absurdity. "I would never tell. But he'll find out eventually if you're not more careful. Here's the deal. I won't say anythin' about Glenn if you don't say anythin' about Daryl."

She thought those were reasonable enough terms.

Maggie nodded her head after a moment of consideration. "Deal."

_**A/N: Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed, or read my first chapter for this story!** **I am so happy that you all like it so far. It gave me extra motivation to get the next chapter up.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Daryl had been recovering in the house for five days now by her father's orders. Beth would occasionally pop into the room to see if he needed anything. She didn't want to be _that_ obvious to Daryl that she really liked him so she kept her distance when the situation called for it. She didn't want to suffocate him with constant interaction. Unfortunately for her, that meant meandering around the house until she could bring him dinner and stay for a minute or two to talk to him.

She was in the kitchen as she tried to reach another can of beans for with the rice they were going to be eating for dinner when she heard the floorboards of the staircase creak. Beth turned to see Daryl walk her way, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, having just woken up.

Beth admired how ruggedly handsome he looked, especially with a few wisps of hair sticking out from sleeping. "Sleep okay?"

Daryl glanced up, surprised by her, and grunted. "Didn't see you there," he explained. "Slept fine."

He moved into the kitchen slowly, passing by her to go over to the window. The bandage on his head was taken of yesterday and this was the first time that Beth was able to get a good look at where the stitching was. The natural light that came through the windows made the stitched up wound look worse than it actually was. There was bruising around the stitches, a light purple color mixed in with green.

"Can I get you somethin'?"

"Which cabinet has glasses?" he asked, wanting to do it himself.

She pointed to the far left one. "That one."

Daryl walked over and got a clear glass out from the cabinet. He went to the sink and flicked on the faucet to fill up the cup as Beth attempted for a third time to get the can of beans down. She did not pay much attention to Daryl because she was more focused on the burning sensation in her side as she stretched as much as she could to try and get the can down. Beth Greene would not be outwitted by a can of beans that was a fraction of an inch out of her reach.

Only when she got back down from her toes did she see that Daryl stood looking out the window while he finished the glass of water.

"You shouldn't drink from that," she told him, cringing at how he gulped down the tap water.

"Why?"

"Because it's not filtered," she said, surprised that he was questioning her. "There could be a ton of bad stuff in the tap water. All kinds of stuff like bacteria, microorganisms, fertilizers. Who knows what's in that. My dad has lived here forever and even he won't drink straight from the tap."

Daryl nonchalantly shrugged.

Beth sighed. "Well, if you feel nauseous and start to puke up your guts then you know why. And if you end up with some kind of flesh eating bacteria then don't come crying to me because I warned you.," she lightly teased.

"Flesh eating," he snickered. "Good choice of words."

She laughed. "I didn't think about it before I said it."

"I'm a little more concerned 'bout the flesh eatin' walkers than I am about a microscopic…thing."

"Organism," she corrected.

Daryl snorted, rolling his eyes. "You just get out of high school biology class or somethin'?"

Ugh. She didn't want to be reminded that she had been in high school before the outbreak and was just barely seventeen. And most of all, she did not want Daryl to think of her as just some young high school girl.

"My dad was a veterinarian," she clarified. "There are biology books all over this house. And I've read most of them. Perhaps I just like using the correct terminology because my dad would always correct me if I gave a basic term for something specific."

Daryl smirked at her, then rubbed at his side where the arrow had gone through. "Does it hurt?"

"Itches," he clarified. "Sometimes it feels like the arrow is still in there."

"Sounds unpleasant."

"It is."

Daryl leaned up against the sink, looking undecided about what to do. Beth inspected him for a second too long and Daryl noticed. He glanced up at her, probably feeling her eyes on him, and shifted his stance while he averted his eyes to the floor, rubbing his hand down his opposite arm.

Beth turned back away and for some reason was not embarrassed by being caught in a stare. She turned and extended her hand back up to where she was originally trying to get the last can of beans down from out of the cabinet. Even on the tips of her toes she was too short to reach. It thoroughly annoyed her that she was about one inch short of being able to collect the last item she needed.

So if Daryl was anything, he was stealthy.

Without hearing him move, he came up behind her. Beth saw his hand go up to the shelf right above hers and grab the can down for her, his body ever so slightly brushing up against hers in the process.

He noticed that, too.

They both did.

The unexpected contact gave her what seemed to be an electric shock that traveled through her body, giving her goose bumps.

He held out the can to her after taking a step back. Beth took it from him, their fingers almost touching when she took it. She wondered if maybe he had felt it as well.

"You need to be more careful," she lightly scolded, keeping her voice airy and trying to keep it from cracking. "You don't wanna pull them stitches out."

Daryl cleared his throat and nodded his head. "Right."

There was a loud noise from outside that interrupted the moment, but Beth was grateful for the distraction it provided. They both turned their heads to peer through the window to see what had gone on. Here it was just Shane about to lose his mind on poor Dale, who once again stood there with his eyes bugged out of his head.

Something about Shane put Beth on edge. She felt like she needed to keep her guard up with that one.

"He's the loose cannon of the group, ain't he?"

"You're awfully observant."

Beth shrugged a shoulder, going over to the window to make sure everything was okay outside. "Not that hard to notice."

Something was going on out there. From where she stood in the kitchen, Beth could visibly see that Shane was pissed off about something. That was no surprise. He always had this look on his face like he was mad at the world. She guessed it had something to do with Lori.

Daryl was right, she _was_ observant. And she saw how Shane looked at Lori, as if she was supposed to be his. Something had gone down with the two of them. Lori froze him out most of the time, ignoring how his eyes would glide over her. And she also saw how Shane looked at Rick with pure envy in his dark eyes.

The situation was alarming to her.

Lori was pregnant and Beth got the feeling that she didn't definitively know who the father was. That spelled trouble.

When Beth turned back around, Daryl was gone and out of sight. She assumed he had gone back upstairs to rest some more since it was his last day he had to be in the house and then her daddy said he could rejoin the group if he wanted to. All he had to do was not do any strenuous activity that would threaten to pull out any of the stitches in his side. They only needed to be in for two more days before he got them taken out because the wound was healing nicely.

Beth knew that he was not exactly comfortable being in the house. That was easy to pick up on. He seemed more like the kind of guy who would rather sleep outside on the ground than in someone else's house.

She would miss him being there in the room right next to hers.

—

Several days later, Beth watched from the front window as the group outside was all gathered together to talk something over.

"Beth!"

She turned around to see her sister there with a troubled expression played out across her face.

"What is it?"

"Glenn knows about the barn. He told the others about it."

Beth sucked in a sharp breath. Their father was going order them off the farm immediately.

"How did Glenn find out?"

Maggie shook her head. "It was stupid. He told me to meet him in the hayloft and…"

She never finished. Maggie didn't need to for Beth to understand why Glenn would have gone up there in the first place.

This was such a horrible situation.

Beth crossed her arms. "What are we gonna do? Play peacemakers between them and daddy? You know what he will say when they will want to get rid of the walkers he stuffed together in the barn."

"I know, I know!" Maggie glanced around the room, and then outside to where tensions seemed to be rising between Shane and Rick. "But daddy already spoke to Rick and he's gonna try and work somethin' out with the rest of the group."

"We both know that won't work," Beth said. "None of them are gonna feel safe with a barn full of flesh eaters on the property. I don't even feel that safe with them there. And neither do you! You really want daddy to drive them off? To drive Glenn off? To drive D—"

She stopped herself before she could say Daryl' name. But it was too late, her sister knew what she was going to say. Beth regretted how she implicated how much Daryl had worked his way into her heart in her previous sentence. But nonetheless, both her and Maggie had someone of the group who they cared for a lot and did not want to be forced to leave. There was a mutual understanding between the two of them—that they would do anything to keep Glenn and Daryl here on the farm with them.

"Maybe we should go out there and talk to them," Maggie suggested in a rushed voice that sounded anxious.

Beth put her thumb and her pointer finger onto both sides of the bridge of her nose to stop an oncoming headache. "This is a nightmare."

"I know it is."

"We should have told them in the beginning," she urged.

"Nothin' we can do about that now," Maggie told her. "All we can focus on is right now and what we can do."

But that was the problem with right now. There was no solution that would satisfy both sides. Rick's group would want the walkers dead and her daddy would not willingly let that happen, nor would he tolerate anyone wanting to kill the walkers in the barn.

Both of them turned when they heard a scuffle start from the group. Maggie and Beth rushed out of the house and over to where Rick and Shane were butting heads next to all of their vehicles. Maggie ran over and got in between them when it was clear that no one else was going to.

"Hey!" she yelled, pushing Shane away from getting in Rick's face. "Stop it! Stop fighting!"

"You better get out of my way," Shane threatened Maggie. Beth was appalled at him and the way he pointed at her sister as he said his threat. "You've been keeping walkers in a fucking barn right next to us this whole time because Hershel wants to save them all! And no one said shit about it!"

"Don't talk to her like that!" Glenn yelled back at Shane.

"Screw this," Shane spat out.

Everyone came to the realization about what he was going to do when Shane snatched up a shotgun out of a bag full of guns by Dale and headed in the direction of the barn. Beth noticed out of the corner of her eye that her father had stepped out onto the porch of their house and also saw what had transpired.

"The man's lost his mind," said Dale, who watched in horror as Shane ran for the barn with a shotgun.

Andrea then pushed past Dale with her own rifle in hand and headed after Shane, who was already messing with the lock on the barn door.

"Damn it, Shane!" Rick cursed as he reluctantly grabbed a rifle as well and ran after the both of them.

Maggie had already rushed over to their father, Glenn and Dale in tow.

Daryl picked up a shotgun out of the bag of guns and she realized that it was the first time since she got to the group that she noticed him being there. Too much had been going on for her to see where he was.

He was going to walk past her but Beth had a moment of panic and realized that she needed to tell Daryl something.

"Wait!" she yelled at him, instinctively grabbing onto his wrist to keep him from running off. Daryl stopped in his place and glanced down to where she had her tight grasp, then back up to her to look her in the eyes. "My mother is in there. And my brother."

Daryl froze. He gave her a look as if to say that he had to go, had to do this. His people needed him to help put the walkers down.

"Just make it quick, okay?"

Daryl gave her brief nod to signify that he understood. Only then did she let her hand drop back down to her side. Daryl lingered for a second before he raced over to the barn, where the door was now wide open, inviting the walkers out.

Beth inhaled a deep breath as she watched Daryl bring up the shotgun and line up with the others. She watched from the distance as it started, slowly making her way over to were the rest of the group was. Loud shots went off. One by one, the walkers who were once friends and neighbors came filing out of the barn and took a bullet to the head, collapsing onto the ground.

She recognized most of them. Their closest neighbors, Bill and Jennifer, were some of the last to come out and meet their fate. She watched by her father and sister's side as they went down. Maggie's godmother drifted out of the barn and even Jimmy, her old boyfriend, came out snarling until the area went quiet.

Maybe she didn't recognize any of them after all. Not with the way their faces had twisted with hunger and how the decay had taken over their bodies. They were not the people she used to know.

She thought that it was over, and then a little girl came stumbling out last. Her father had never said anything about a child being caught and put into the barn so Beth was surprised as she moved towards the group. Only when Lori grabbed onto Carl and Carol went running did Beth realize that the child walker was Sophia, Carol's daughter.

Her heart broke right then.

Beth's empathy consumed her and her heart hurt for Carol, whose own heart must have shattered into a million pieces in that moment.

She saw the pain and despair in Carol's face as Daryl brought her down to the ground to prevent her from going to her little girl, who was no longer the daughter she once knew. Beth blinked a few times, not sure if this was really happening. Only when Rick stepped forward with his hand gun did it become real. She wanted to look away but she didn't. Rick pulled the trigger and Sophia fell to the ground, lifeless.

The barn massacre was over.


	4. Chapter 4

Tragic.

That was the only word that could describe the whole situation.

Daryl pulled away and isolated himself more than he had in the beginning when the group first arrived at the farm. Beth knew it was because of the aftermath of the barn massacre and Sophia's death. That death seemed to have rocked Daryl to his core. Everyone grieved. Carol clung to Lori for support. But the odd thing was that Daryl seemed to be more upset about Sophia being in that barn than Sophia's own mother was.

Beth saw how Daryl set up camp far away from everyone else. She had watched from the porch days ago when he sauntered off to be alone. She wanted to go out there and talk to him. Sit with him and be silent if that was what he needed her to do. She didn't need to say anything. Maybe her presence would be enough.

But there were words that needed to be spoken. There was no way around that.

What she did want to say, though, was that Daryl had done the best that he could have in hopes to find Sophia. She wanted to pour out her heart and tell him that he was such a good person, so amazing and caring for searching relentlessly until he took an arrow to the side and a bullet that grazed his head, rendering him incapable to searching more.

She knew he would have gone back out there.

She knew he would have gone with the stitches still in and risked pulling them out if he was not under constant watch (house arrest, as he called it).

She knew he would have tried, and that was all anyone could ask for.

No one expected him to do what he did for Sophia. And Beth didn't think that he got enough praise for doing what he did (though she doubted he wanted it anyways).

It pained Beth to see Daryl go through such a whirlwind of emotion. It was obvious to her that he was not used to dealing with that sort of stuff. Something about the death of Sophia had hit him hard, dug through him and clawed at the edges of his conscious. The others did not see it as well as Beth did; she could tell that they were caught up in other various things like trying to control Shane.

_Loose cannon, remember? _

Problem with that is this cannon would go off without warning—explode and take everything down with it.

Shane was dangerous.

Off his rocker.

Something had snapped inside of that man, something bad, and something grim. He let a darkness in and grabbed onto it, not letting it leave him.

Beth was worried about it, and that was a generous understatement. She tried to convince herself that Rick would take care of it, handle Shane, but there was a large part that told her that Rick was the object that stood in Shane's way of getting what he really wanted.

Best friends turned enemies. At least that was what it was on Shane's side. Rick was in the middle of trying to save him, pull him back from the edge he was teetering off of.

The edge of insanity.

But the twisted look in Shane's eyes told Beth that there might not be a way to save him. Shane was gone. Shane wanted Rick gone.

Beth didn't know which was scarier.

—

Beth debated back and forth whether or not she should go out to where Daryl was. He sat out in the field up against the rock wall sharpening a number of knives and making more arrows for his crossbow. He had been doing that all day, trying to keep himself busy. Beth began to worry that he got too much time inside his own head to think about what had happened, to ruminate over it again and again.

Screw it. She was going to go out there.

Beth needed to say something to him, anything that might possibly make him feel better. Something that would let him know that he didn't need to feel guilty about what happened. She wanted to let him know that it was okay to feel the emotions. There was nothing wrong about feeling the way he did.

Beth stopped peeling the potatoes that she had picked out of their large garden earlier in the day and set down the peeler onto the wooden cutting board. "Can you finish prepping dinner?" she asked Andrea, who was setting up the steamer on the gas stove. "There's only a few more left that need to be peeled and cut."

Andrea nodded. "Sure. Where are off to?"

Beth took off her red apron and hung it over the chair at the kitchen table, hesitating before she answered. "To go talk to Daryl."

"Honey, I doubt he will say much."

"He doesn't need to say anythin'," she affirmed. "I'll do all the talkin'. And if he doesn't want me to talk then I'll sit there until he does."

"That the plan?"

"That's the plan," Beth declared.

Andrea sighed and went over to Beth's original station to finish the potatoes for part of the dinner they had planned. She playfully encouraged Beth by waving her off and said, "Well, go on. See if you can drag his ass in here."

Beth left the kitchen and swung open the front door, hearing it squeak in disapproval for not being as gentle with the wooden frame like she normally was. But she was a woman on a mission. She didn't have time for being cautious with little things.

Once outside, she saw that the sun had dipped below the horizon, giving the sky a beautiful orange tint to it. The sparse clouds were illuminated with a light shade of pink. It almost stopped Beth in her tracks. She thought that it was one of the prettier sunsets that had happened in the last few weeks (because, yes, she made an effort to view every single one).

She never knew when it might be her last.

Beth marched through the field in her cowboy boots over to where Daryl was. She was careful not to trip on any of the rocks or tree stumps that were hidden by the overgrowth on her way over. That was all she needed—to fall and injure herself on her way over to talk some sense into Daryl. That would have been the universe telling her it was a bad idea.

But it seemed the universe was in her favor this time. She got over to the rock wall with no problem.

From behind, Beth saw that Daryl had a tattoo on his right side up near his shoulder blades. It was visible because he was hunched over while sitting, his cut off sleeves revealing the tattoo as he worked on sharpening a hunting knife. She stared at it for a moment, trying to decipher what the ink was of with no luck.

_Now is not the time, _she told herself.

"Daryl?"

He flinched in her direction, blue eyes snapping up to Beth's, startled to see her there. _Oops._ She had a bad habit of sneaking up on people. It wasn't her fault, not really. Beth was small, she would tread light on her feet, and didn't make much noise as she approached people, even when she was in boots.

"Damn, girl. You tryin' to get yourself killed?"

"Sorry," she apologized, seeing he had gripped the knife in his hand tighter. "Didn't mean to spook you."

Daryl Dixon was not someone who was easily startled, and she could tell that by the way he looked over at her, like he was sizing her up, trying to figure out how she had managed to do the impossible.

When he turned back to the fire, Beth got the impression that this would not to very simple. Not that she had imagined it would be to begin with, but she had underestimated the resistance she would get from Daryl. He was clearly not in the mood to have company. But that was too damn bad for him. He was going to get just that.

Beth was a lot like her sister in that way. They were both stubborn and extremely persistent with a goal. Greene women never gave up easily.

Beth stepped around the fire to the other side and sat down opposite to Daryl where the grass was trampled down, the softness of it tickling against the palms of her hands as she adjusted herself so that she sat cross legged on the ground. She sat there in silence for a few moments, strategically planning what she would need to say to him, and also waiting to see if he would say anything to her and give her some indication of whether he needed her to sit there and watch the fire with him for a while or if she should get right on with it.

"How come you ain't askin' a ton of questions?"

Finally, Daryl spoke up. His voice was balanced at a low and husky tone, the usual way that it was. But Daryl didn't seem to be particularly interested in her answer because he kept his gaze trained on the light of the fire.

"You don't wanna talk," she responded.

Daryl snorted, glimpsing up at her. "You seem to think you know me pretty well, don't ya?"

Beth didn't miss a beat. She confidently replied, "I know you better than you think I do. Want me to tell you what I know? Like you said before, I'm very observant. I see what others fail to. I pick up on little things."

That shut him up. Daryl dropped his head back down to stare off into the fire. The way he so casually trained his eyes on the dancing flames concerned her.

"You tryin' to burn your retinas outta your eyeball?"

Only then did he look up at her again, head still tilted down at the ground, and face unchanged, though she could have sworn that she saw the slightest upward movement of the corner of Daryl's lips. She ignored the almost smile because Beth figured it was a good window of opportunity to say what she needed to.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself,' she directly told him, wanting him to instantly believe her. "You did the best that you could before and that's all that you _could _do."

"Don't need ya to tell me nothin'. Do me a favor and run back inside. Leave me be," he coldly muttered, averting his eyes back to the hunting knife that was in his hand. He sharpened the blade some more. "Don't need a pep talk from a farmer's daughter."

Her blood boiled right then.

"Well guess the hell what, Daryl Dixon," she spat out, angered by him trying to push her away and reducing her to just _a farmer's daughter_. "How dare you! I'm not out her to be your personal cheer squad. I'm out here because I'm worried about you, if that wasn't obvious. But why would it be, huh? You clearly don't notice that people actually care about you and don't want you out here isolating yourself because Sophia was in the barn. You can't push people away and expect them not to fight you on it. Not _everyone_ gives up."

She surprised herself there. She did not know what exactly had come over her a few seconds ago. Beth almost never cursed in front of people or yelled at them but Daryl had gotten her so agitated by his previous _don't need a pep talk from a farmer's daughter_ comment.

Daryl's eyes had snapped up to hers as she had gone off on a tangent and he stopped his movements with the knife. He stared her down, and she saw the shock that played out in his blue eyes, the flickering of the fire making it more evident in his face. She guessed he had expected her to up and leave him there, run off because he muttered some dismissal to her.

There was an extended silence where neither of them spoke a word, didn't even move a muscle. The only noise came from the crackling fire and from the crickets that started to chirp off in the distance because the day had turned into dusk.

Beth reconstructed what she wanted to say but then she gave up on that. She would say what came to mind in the moment, what felt natural.

"Pain is a part of life," Beth started, also staring into the fire to mimic Daryl's previous actions. "You feel it, you let it in, and it sticks with you for a while. It can take over, but only if you let it. The pain hurts. It hurts a lot sometimes and sometimes it feels like it might devour you whole." Beth inhaled a deep breath before she let it back out. "Until one day it goes away. The pain stops and you no longer hurt."

Daryl shifted his position but didn't say anything; she knew he got the message.

Beth got up off the ground and walked around the fire until she stood about a foot away from Daryl. She glanced down at Daryl, who had abandoned sharpening the blade so he could instead mess with his rough hands, finding them suddenly way more interesting than having to look at her.

"Now get up and come in for dinner," she demanded, still feeling bold and confident. "Because if you think for a second I'm gonna let you sit out here forever, then you're dead wrong."

Daryl hesitated. She saw that he contemplated his options. After a few seconds passed, he put one hand flat on the ground and pushed himself up so he could stand, grabbing up his crossbow, and stuck the hunting knife securely into its place off his side. He kicked dirt onto the fire to put it out, smoke floating upwards after it the flames died out.

He glanced over at her then, frozen in place. His eyes were apologizing to her, because he would not be able to get the words out. She understood. And that was fine with Beth. She had not expected an apology of any sorts from him in the first place.

They walked through the tall grass back to the house without saying anything.

Beth was very pleased with the outcome that she had gotten from this whole thing, and tried very hard to hold back the grin that attempted to spread across her face. She couldn't wait to see the look on Andrea's face when she walked into the house with Daryl by her side.

Beth had broken through to Daryl—reached out and yanked him back from the edge.

And he let her.


	5. Chapter 5

"The rain won't let up, will it?" Maggie asked.

She sat down on the perch with Beth by her bedroom window. Beth had always enjoyed reading a good book on a rainy day with a cup of tea by her side. Either that or getting out her sketchbook to draw as the rain pelleted against her window. She found the noise of the rain to be very calming, peaceful.

The house was active downstairs, everyone inside to escape the rain. There was laughter and chatter that echoed up through the halls.

"Come on downstairs," her sister urged.

Beth moved her mouth from side to side, showing her resistance to join the rest. "There's more quiet up here, though."

"There's more of Daryl downstairs, though," Maggie remarked with a sly smile.

"Stop," Beth blushed.

They shared a laugh and Maggie stayed with Beth for a little while, watching as the rain fell down in large droplets that bounced off the ground. Beth asked about Glenn, and Maggie was more than willing to tell her that she thought she was falling in love with the guy. That was nice to hear, nice to know that people could fall in love with each other in this kind of world. Beth saw from the looks that Glenn gave Maggie that he was already in love with her, had been since day one. She saw it in his eyes. It was only a matter of time until he told her about those feelings.

Glenn made Maggie so happy; she could tell that from how her face brightened up whenever she talked about him. And Beth was really happy for her sister, happy that she found someone. She hoped that one day she would be able to experience what it was like to fall in love and have someone love her back.

They talked about it more and how Maggie planned to tell their father about her secret relationship soon, until Glenn came knocking on Beth's bedroom door and Beth told her sister to go with him, to steal a few moments with each other when they would not be missed by the others.

The rain had finally stopped and Beth had gone downstairs to help make lunch with Patricia. Everyone was still gathered downstairs once they had all eaten, and that left Beth feeling like she needed some space.

She excused herself from the kitchen, throwing on a gray sweater, and headed for the front of the house. Beth swung open the front door that led out to the porch and walked so that she was to the side of the steps. There was a slight chill to the air that she enjoyed. Beth looked out at the green fields, noticing that flocks of birds were jumping out of the grass, ones that had flown south for the upcoming winter.

"You outta pay more attention," Daryl's voice said. Beth turned, startled by him. Daryl was leaned up against the side of the house behind where the door was with his arms crossed, watching her. She was surprised that she did not see him there when she walked out. "I could've been a walker."

He was right, she should have been more aware of her surroundings. "I know. Sorry. I wasn't really thinking."

"Why you out here?" Daryl questioned.

She smiled at him and shrugged, motioning back to the house. "Too many people inside. I needed to get away. What about you? Why are you out here?"

"Same reason."

"Don't like crowds?"

"Nope," he assured her.

"Yeah, me either. It can be overwhelming."

Daryl reached down and collected up his crossbow that had been rested on the floor of the porch. He moved past by her and headed down the porch steps, slinging the crossbow over his shoulder.

Beth leaned her cheek against the beam by the steps, placing her hand around it as well. "You gonna go huntin'?"

"Might as well since the rain stopped," Daryl replied. "Why?"

"Just wonderin', I guess."

Daryl hesitated, looking into the woods before turning back to her. "Uh, you wanna come?"

Her face lite up. "Really?"

"Don't get too excited. It ain't gonna be a walk in the park or nothin' like that. And you gotta do what I say. Don't need ya gettin' bit by a walker."

"I promise I'll do whatever you say," she affirmed, already on the second to last step of the porch, sticking her hands into her sweater pockets.

She was in disbelief that Daryl had actually made the offer to her. And of course she would jump at the chance to be with him and be able to spend time with him. If he had asked her to go do something awfully gross like gut fish all day long then she probably still would have said yes. Just because it would be the two of them together. It was the perfect opportunity for her to get to know this man better, if he was willing to open up to her.

And then suddenly she was a little bit nervous. The idea of the two of them together and alone made her giddy on the inside, but she contained herself and did not show that to Daryl.

No need to freak him out.

Daryl and Beth headed away from the house as they crossed though the field, and when they were at the edge of the woods, Beth asked, "How long have you been huntin' for?"

Daryl moved some of the long branches out of the way and motioned for her to step into the woods as he held them back, which she did. "As long as I can remember. Started out when I was really young."

"Who taught you?"

"My brother, Merle." Daryl sighed and absently shook his head. Beth noted the undertone of disappointment in his voice. "He was never much of a brother, though. You know what I mean? Don't worry. He ain't gonna be makin' an appearance anytime soon. He's long gone. Not dead but somewhere far, probably."

"Andrea told me," she confessed. "About Atlanta, too. Don't be mad at her. I was the one who was askin' all the questions."

"S'alright." Daryl hesitated before he then asked, "Why you askin' questions about Merle?"

Beth's brain quickly searched for a plausible explanation. She then decided to just go with the truth instead. "I wanted to know more about you and she mentioned you had a brother. So I got her to tell me more."

She waited for a reply from Daryl, who had been scanning the area and then stopped to look over in her direction. "Oh."

She could tell by his tone that he had not expected her to say that she wanted to know more about him and that was her reason for questioning Andrea in the kitchen.

Daryl diverted their conversation. "Let me guess, Andrea tell you how my brother is a no good redneck jackass who don't listen to nobody? And how he was shit to everyone at the camp?"

"She said he cut off his own hand and then left before you and the others could get to him," she clarified. "I mean, she said he wasn't a great guy, but she didn't say it in your wording."

"She say anythin' 'bout me?"

Beth's face fell. "Why? Do you like her?"

She watched as Daryl looked over at her like Beth was crazy. "No," he spat out, amused. "The Andrea who shot me? Miss Fancy Pants who thinks she knows everything? Hell, no."

"Okay," Beth replied, happy about the answer.

"How come you ask that?"

Beth bit her lip. "No reason."

The two of them were silent for a minute. Beth watched as the tree leaves swayed back and forth, the light green color twisting in the wind. Nature captivated her in a way that nothing else did. She had a notebook full of sketches to prove that, too. Sketches that she kept hidden from everyone else but found herself wanting to show to Daryl. She thought that he might appreciate them since he spent so much time in the woods.

Beth was kind of surprised when Daryl spoke up to continue their conversation as they carefully walked through the woods.

"Andrea said some shit about me, didn't she?" Daryl smirked. "That's why you won't tell me."

She laughed out loud. "Oh, no. Nothing. But then again, she may have said that you're a pain in the ass sometimes," Beth relayed, feeling a bit guilty for telling that to Daryl. "But my guess is that you already knew that."

Daryl smirked again. "Yeah, Andrea don't like me too much. But I am a pain in the ass, I'll give her that much. I ain't that great of a guy either."

"Yes you are," she defended. "You're a good guy."

She had no doubt in her mind that he was.

Daryl snorted. "You seem real sure about that. How you know I'm a good guy, huh?"

Beth pushed her lips together as they continued to maneuver through the wooded area. "It's just somethin' I know," she confidently told him. "A feeling, I guess."

Daryl looked over at her with kinder eyes, ones that showed his own curiosity about Beth.

"What?" she asked.

Daryl shrugged, adjusting his crossbow. "You sure got a lot of faith in people. Don't ya think it's a little naïve?"

"No," Beth replied. "I choose to believe in the good in people. And you have it, Daryl. There's a whole lot of good inside of you. Even if you don't know it yet." She twisted her head so that she could look him in the eyes, and he met her gaze. "But I can see it."

Daryl's eyes stayed on hers for a few seconds before he averted them in a new direction. "Let's head over this way," he said, changing the subject, and straying from the original trail they were on. He moved them into where the woods got thicker. "It's were all the animals would be."

—

Beth watched in awe as Daryl lined up a shot with his crossbow and took out a third rabbit. He was so good at hunting. He showed her some of the trails that the animals had left behind, even though Beth had not even seen them to begin with. Daryl was amazing at figuring out what way an animal was headed and how long ago it had left the tracks behind.

She remained quiet as he worked, afraid that she might mess up his concentration. He got so in the zone with things that she backed away from him, thinking that maybe she was in his space. That was until he turned back around and said, "Get over here, girl. I don't need you wanderin' off." Then she picked up her speed and got back by his side to watch closer, thankful that she could admire his muscles more up close when he held up his crossbow.

Daryl and Beth had been on their way back when he tracked down another rabbit, stringing it with the rest of them. They were at the edge of the woods and close to the farm, which was a good thing now because more dark clouds like the ones earlier in the day rolled in, covering the sun that had been out for a brief period of time.

"It's gonna rain again," Daryl told her, grabbing her by the arm to turn her in the other direction before he dropped his hand back.

It had been an unnecessary touch, but Daryl had done it anyways. Beth couldn't help but then place her own hand over top of where Daryl's had been, feeling the same tingling sensation as before. And that was even through her sweater.

_You're imagining things, _she said to herself.

Still, clear as day, the feeling persisted until a raindrop hit Beth's cheek. She titled her head skywards and saw that one very dark and ominous cloud was overhead.

"You're right. We should get back. And quick."

The clouds opened up before they could get back in time. Rain came back down, heavier than before, and Daryl and Beth had the unfortunate luck of getting caught in the storm. The two of them raced back towards the farm, avoiding the mud that now covered the area.

The grass was slick from the rain and Beth slipped, falling down onto her side, but catching herself with her hands before her torso hit the muddy ground. She must have landed on a rock because she felt something hard with rough edges dig into her leg, something that was going to leave a nice new bruise for her come morning. Daryl stopped and helped her up, grabbing onto her arms and yanking her off the ground and to her feet in one motion.

They continued running back through the rain, Beth being more alert and more careful as she sprinted. She didn't want to go in the front door because she knew that everyone would most likely be in the living room. Instead, she directed Daryl towards the back of the house, and the two escaped inside through the back door that hardly anyone ever used.

No one was in sight, but she could hear laughter coming from the other rooms in the front of the house. The both of them wiped off their muddy shoes on the mat that was right in front of the door so that the floor would not be filthy after they walked across it. They crossed through the kitchen where Daryl dropped the rabbits onto the kitchen counter to be dealt with later.

"Come on," she instructed, leading Daryl up the narrow back steps that dropped them out into one of the upstairs hallways.

Only then did she get a glimpse of herself in a mirror. She looked down at her clothes and wet hair and saw what a mess she was. She glanced over at Daryl and he was the same. But she did notice how good he looked with his hair damp across his forehead.

"We should probably shower," she said, laughing at how they were drenched from the rain. A change of clothes would simply not suffice when there was mud and a few small leaves stuck on the both of them.

There was a brief flicker of something, _something_ that she couldn't place, in Daryl's eyes before she continued. "You can use the one down the hall. Maggie has a shower in her room so I'll be a few doors down."

Beth opened up the hall linen closet that was in front of her and she handed over a clean towel to Daryl. "Thanks," he mumbled before he sauntered down the row of doors until he got to the one that led into the bathroom and opened it, shutting it quickly.

Beth went to the end of the hall and opened up her sister's room, crossing over to the bathroom that she had always been so jealous that Maggie got to have. Her own bathroom all to herself. It was unfair, but Beth would not complain.

She stripped herself of her wet clothes, battling it out with the jeans and almost slipping twice. Beth turned the knob of the shower to warm and waited a minute before she got in. She washed away the mud and the gross feeling that the rain left on her skin, making her feel itchy all over as the rain dried on her flesh.

She was able to relax more when she got the shampoo in her hair and it was no longer plastered to her face. Beth stared at the bright white tiles that were in the shower and thought back to what she had said to Daryl in the hallway when he had flicked his eyes up to hers with a certain interest and...confusion? _We should probably shower_. He couldn't have thought that she meant _together_, could he? Was that why he had given her a strange look before she had continued to tell him that she would be in her sister's room?

It got her mind thinking.

Her.

Daryl.

In a shower.

Together.

Beth bit her lip as the warm water came down from above. She swallowed hard as the images of that infiltrated her mind, and she pondered them over and over again. She wondered how it would feel. How it would feel to have Daryl Dixon in her shower with the both of them naked and wet and…

Oh no.

_Are you really thinking about sex with Daryl?_ she internally asked herself.

Beth quickly rinsed her hair, twisting the water out, and shut off the shower. She grabbed one of Maggie's dark purple towels off the wall before stepping out of the shower and onto the bathmat. She clenched the front of the towel tighter as the thoughts persisted in her head. She felt her heart begin to race and a foreign desire take over her momentarily.

So it was true. She did want him, wanted him in that sense.

Beth had never had sex before, or had ever felt that desire to with her old boyfriend, Jimmy. But now? Now Daryl Dixon had her thinking about it.

She was then distracted by the lack of clothes she had to wear, knowing that Maggie's would not fit her. In the midst of getting into the house and in a hurry to jump into the shower, Beth had completely forgotten to get dry clothes. There was no way she would be able to get her soaked skinny jeans back onto her legs. That was an impossible task right there. So Beth settled for drying herself off as much as she could and walking down the hall to her bedroom.

First, she peeked around the corner of her sister's bedroom and into the hall to make sure that there was no one there that would see her wrapped up in the small towel that was just barely enough to cover everything up. When she saw no one and heard no sounds except from downstairs, she crept into the hallway and swiftly darted down it.

She was three doors away from hers, only then did the door to the bathroom in the hallway open, Daryl walking out while he dried off his hair with a towel.

_Perfect timing._

Beth froze in her place, eyes widening for two reasons. One, because she was in the hallway and Daryl just realized that Beth was there with nothing but a towel on. Two, because she saw how Daryl looked coming out of the shower—completely clean, head to toe. She was not used to seeing him that way. And she found that she almost preferred him to have some dirt on him. That only added to the rugged handsomeness that Beth saw in him.

"Hi," was the only thing that she thought to say.

"Uh, hi," he awkwardly replied, glancing her up and down.

They stood there in silence, neither of them moving, for a moment before Beth moved around him and explained, "I'm going to go change now."

_Way to point out the obvious._

"Right," he said back, acknowledging her statement.

A few steps later she was at her door, turning the knob, when something told her to look back over at Daryl. She did, and she found that his eyes remained trained on her. Once he saw that she noticed, he turned around and went back down the hall without turning around to her. Beth then escaped into her room and shut the door behind her. She leaned her back against the door and smiled to herself within the safety of her empty room.

Had Daryl Dixon been checking her out? Surely, that was just her imagination running wild and being hopeful. Or...perhaps, even if it was a far fetched idea, things were exactly as they seemed.

_**A/N: What a nightmare it was to try and get this chapter to show up when I posted it. Sorry if you tried to find this chapter and it was not here at first. I have no clue what happened.**_


	6. Chapter 6

"What are you thinkin'?" she asked.

Daryl peered over at Beth, and as usual, gave her an honest answer. "We're better off without him."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Beth nodded her head to agree, even though the circumstances where quite grim. "Shane would have gotten us all killed."

"Damn straight," Daryl remarked. After a few beats passed, he turned back to her and analyzed her for another moment before he added, "You feel bad 'bout him bein' dead?"

"I feel bad that Rick had to do it," she clarified, shifting her stance and crossing her arms to watch as Rick talked to Lori, clearly upset and heartbroken over what had happened between Shane and him. Then there was Lori, who was horrified that Carl had to shoot Shane when he turned into a walker.

"Don't feel that way. Shane made it like that. He made Rick be the one to take him out. It was one or the other."

"I know."

It was colder outside. Beth rubbed her hands up and down her arms to try and warm them up. She saw her breath in the cold night as she exhaled. The evenings had gotten progressively colder as winter approached. Beth had an idea that it was probably around mid October. That was when the days were on the warm side, but when the sun went down, the nights became chilly.

"You should get on inside," Daryl told her, seeing that she was visibly chilled without a coat on.

"Everyone should," she countered.

Daryl and Beth watched from the porch how distraught, yet relieved Rick seemed to be. It was a breaking point for all of them. No one knew where to go from here, how to make things seem more normal again, how to make things better.

Her father was drinking again, something he had not done since Maggie's mother had died. It was hard to see him that way. He had been hidden away since the barn incident, somewhere in the house with a bottle of whiskey, drowning in sorrow because the world was not what he thought it was even though Maggie and Beth had tried to make him see the truth.

"You really think the group is broken?" she asked Daryl.

He shrugged, not looking at her.

Beth turned around because she could not watch anymore as the group tried to pull themselves together and assess the situation they found themselves in. "What are we gonna do?" she questioned, not expecting an answer. It more of a rhetorical question for the universe. She wanted some sort of sign to let them know what the next step was.

"We keep goin'."

—

Beth was in her room, seated on the window perch with a pillow behind her back so that she was supported and the wall didn't cause any strain on her spine. She had her sketchbook in hand, the sides of her fingers blackened from the pencil she used to draw with. She had tried to sleep, tried to force herself into dreams, but she imagined that they would turn into nightmares. That kept her wide awake. Beth stopped trying to fall asleep after she had laid in bed for what seemed like hours with no such luck, not even the faintest sense that her body wanted her to fall into a dreamland.

So instead of staying in bed any longer, she had gotten up and crossed the room to where her desk was and pulled the bottom drawer open to take out the sketchbook that was hidden under a bunch of papers along with her journal. Now, she took a minute to look out her window and into the darkness that surrounded the outside of the house. A dense fog had set in around the area, thick clouds of mist rising up from the damp ground that made any type of visibility hard.

It was eerie. And Beth didn't like it very much. The lack of visibility worried her.

And whenever she was worried, or couldn't sleep, Beth would stay up late and move her table lamp over to the perch that she sat at so she could draw. Only now she had to use candles. It let the stress out of her mind. There were pages and pages of sketches in her notebook. For the most part, she drew the beautiful things in nature. The trees, the flowers, the sunsets. Anything that stood out to her.

But now she worked on a sketch of Daryl.

Beth knew she was good at drawing. Her portrayals were very life-like, as her old friend, Sydney, had told her one day when she stumbled upon the sketchbook that had been left out, staring at the pages of pictures in awe.

Daryl was easy for her to draw. She normally did not like to draw people because she was paranoid that they might find her sketchbook and think that she was some sort of crazy person for drawing them and keeping their picture in the bottom drawer of her desk with the other collections of pictures. But now she didn't pay any attention to that irrational fear. She sketched people because she wanted to remember them with color in their skin tone, smiles on their faces, and warm hearts. Not the things they had turned into after the virus hit and they turned into monsters.

That was not the way the deserved to be remembered, at least not in Beth's mind.

Beth was almost finished with her sketch of Daryl. She had been working on it for a week now, and was a few lines away from it being done. She just had to finish the arrow that she put in his hand. Beth drew him in a natural way, in the woods with his crossbow on his back, surrounded by trees. She even drew the cut off sleeves and shaded in some of his face and exposed arms to show the layer of dirt that he usually had on him.

She thought she captured everything. The deep set eyes that were sharp and the unruly wisps of hair, the look of danger, but the sense of shyness with a hint of loneliness.

She liked how it turned out.

(It was actually her favorite sketch out of them all)

And something told her that she should flip the page to start on another drawing, one where she could add in that angel wing vest of Daryl's that Beth loved so much. There was something so ironic about it, and she enjoyed that aspect.

Before she had the time to flip to the next blank page, there was movement outside her window that caught her attention. The mist moved around in an unnatural way, swirling about when there was no wind to cause it. Yes, there was definitely movement. Or was it her imagination? Her mind playing tricks on her because it was late and she should be asleep?

She moved her face closer to the window to see better, her breath creating a small patch of fog on the window. Beth squinted her eyes out into the darkness. The outside light from their house put out a glow onto the mist that was nearby.

Maybe it was an animal that was coming towards the house. Sometimes the farm had wolves that would creep up through the night and would stalk the structure that housed the chickens that the wolves found they were unable to get to. Even deer would wander up on occasion, feasting on the leaves or berries of some of the bushes around the property. So the movement could very well be an animal or a group of them moving through.

But something told her otherwise.

Beth thought about opening her window to hear but she didn't want to make any noise until she knew what it was that was on the property. Staying on the safe side was always better.

She narrowed her eyes more at whatever was moving its way towards the house, closer and closer with every step forward. She got a bad feeling, knowing that animals never came that close to the house before. That was when she was able to make out what it was.

A walker.

Then another.

Then a bunch more.

Beth didn't hesitate. She flew out of her room, dropping the sketchbook onto the floor with the pencil that rolled under her bed and out of sight. She yanked open her door quickly and got into the hallway.

"Walkers!" she yelled as loud as she could down the hall.

Just then there was a loud banging noise on the side of the house downstairs, signifying that the walkers had made it to the house. Fear ran through her, keeping her alert. Her senses were immediately heightened by the alarming sound.

The doors upstairs also flew open in a panicked manner, everyone throwing on the nearest set of clothes that they had. Luckily, everyone had been inside this evening because the fog had been too dense for them to keep a good watch out. Andrea was the first one to make into into the hallway, coming out of the room across from Beth, rifle in hand, alert and ready to go. "How many?"

Everyone else poured out of the rooms, entering the hallway with their weapons in hand so that they formed a semi-circle. "A lot," she breathed out, pointing back to the window she saw them from. "They are all comin' from that way."

"A herd," Glenn said.

"A what?" Maggie questioned, throwing a jacket on.

"Let's go," Rick instructed, gun loaded and headed for the stairs, followed by the majority of the group members.

Beth momentarily saw Daryl drop his crossbow to the ground to load it with an arrow. "Stay safe," he told her, briefly meeting her eyes, before he followed Rick, Andrea, T-Dog, and Dale down the steps.

Glenn dropped his boots to the ground and slipped them on before he followed them all, grabbing an axe that had been leaned up on the inside of the room he came out of. "Wait!" her sister yelled a him. "I'll come with you."

"Stay here, Maggie! I can't have you hurt."

Maggie and Beth both exchanged a look of horror, hearing the boots fall heavy on the steps and the backdoor open, then swing back closed until it shut. Their father then emerged out of his bedroom, dressed, and with a shotgun in hand.

"Daddy?"

"This is my farm," he affirmed, headed for the steps to join the others. "I'll protect it and everyone on it. You two stick together."

All they could do was watch as their father had been brought out of the drunken spell he had been under. Apparently, the threat of losing the things he loved most was enough to snap him out of that. Her daddy went down the steps and she heard him quickly walk across the living room and exit out the front door.

The sound of a gun going off was heard from the two left in the house.

"We gotta help," Beth told her sister, unsure of what else to do.

She couldn't just stand there and do nothing as their new friends fought off a herd of walkers that threatened them and the farm. But in that moment of thought, both Maggie and Beth were startled by another loud and malicious bang from the opposite side of the house, then another one from the back.

More shots fired from the outside, echoing in the night.

"Quick, get your shoes on. We can't stay in here."

Beth sprung to action, following her sister's instructions.

She ran back into her room and pulled on her cowboy boots that were placed on the floor over by the window. Beth looked out that same window again to see a whole line of walkers pounding onto the house, wanting to get in, wanting to get to them. Goosebumps ran down her spine and she booked it over to a bag that was in the corner that was filled with some necessary items, snatched up the sketchbook that was on the floor and stuffed it inside. She threw it over her two shoulders and ran back into the hallway, leaving all her other belongings in her room, forgotten.

More and more shots fired and Beth could hear Rick's voice yell something from further away. She didn't know what.

Maggie met her back in the hallway, grabbing ahold of her hand as she passed by so that Maggie could guide them down the old stairs that would lead them into the kitchen. They got to the bottom step, and then the small window to the side smashed open, walker hands flailing inside. The both of them flinched away and gasped at the sudden intrusive noise.

"Maggie!" Beth squeaked.

"Come on!" Maggie dragged her in the kitchen, letting go of her hand. Maggie took out two large knives from the wooden block that was by the stove, handing one over to Beth to use as a weapon if she needed to. "Keep close."

Maggie kept Beth protectively behind her as they crossed into the other room, trying to find the best escape route. They found that they were not the only ones in the house anymore. The backdoor window smashed open and the weight of the amount of walkers that were pressed against it made the lock break, the door swinging wide open, letting countless walkers fall to the ground and onto the wooden floorboards of their house.

"We have to get out!" Beth shrieked, grasping harder onto the knife she did not know how to use.

The walkers got up and jerked towards them as the two sisters stumbled back and then ran through the living room for the front door. Maggie opened it without any trouble, flinging it so that the door hit the back wall and they jumped out onto the porch. A walker snagged Maggie before Beth even knew what happened. The walker tackled Maggie down onto the floor of the porch, jaw trying to get to her flesh as it rested on top of her, Maggie trying to keep it away from her neck and get to the knife she dropped when the thing took her to the ground.

Beth reacted in the only way she knew how. She snatched onto the walker's bloody shirt and yanked it back off of her sister with all the might that she could muster up in that terrifying moment. It fell back onto the porch and Beth stabbed the knife she had in her shaky grasp into the head of the walker before it could get back up.

She was surprised by how easily the blade sunk into the skull, and that she was able to get it in the right spot.

Beth stepped away, fear stricken and in complete shock.

Maggie got up off the ground and grabbed a walker that had crept out of the house and onto the porch, right behind Beth. Maggie pinned it up against the porch wall and put the knife into its eye. "Get out of here, Beth! Run! Go to the fence. I'll find you!"

Beth did what she said. She stumbled down the steps in a hurry, looking back to see Maggie take out another walker.

Beth ran, she ran fast through the fog and the slippery grass, careful to avoid anything she might trip on. She didn't stop until she got to the fence at the edge of their property, almost out of breath.

She waited, listened for her sister to get to where Beth was, where she had been told to go. She heard more shots being fired off in the distance.

A few seconds later, walker came at Beth from her side, and she jerked away, realizing that she left her knife back in the head of the other walker on the porch. She pushed this walker down to the ground and ran away in the opposite direction, into the field, and into the unknown. She stopped when she felt she was far enough away from the walker that had tried to attack her back by the fence. She panicked; Beth was separated from her sister. And she couldn't call out for her, that would only alert the walkers to her exact location.

She heard the growls, the dragging of feet in her direction. She circled in her place twice to try and figure out where in the darkness the noises where being projected from. But the problem was that they sounded like they coming from all over, and she could not see where she could go to get away. The fog had cleared up somewhat since she was farther away from the house, but it was still very hard to make out a good escape route to use.

Out of nowhere, a strong arm grabbed Beth by her midsection, snagging onto her, and it knocked the wind out of her. She thought she was a goner.

End of the line.

She was walker food now.

She sharply gasped and thrashed. "It's me," Daryl's voice said.

"Daryl," she acknowledged, relieved that he was the one who had grabbed onto her and was now pulling her in some direction, clearly knowing where he was headed.

He didn't have time for much of an explanation. "There's too many. Come on, we gotta go. There others are leavin'."

"Where's Maggie?"

Beth stopped in her place after the thought struck her. She didn't want her sister out there looking for her on the walker infested farm and not being able to find her. It was something of a death trap now.

Daryl wasn't going to waste any time, though. He grabbed her by the wrist and guided her to his motorcycle that was by the road. "Glenn got her. I said I'd find you. Rick's stayin' behind with Andrea get the walkers into the barn. Gonna torch it. It's the only way."

She didn't question Daryl. She trusted him.

They got to his bike, him having to smash a walker in the face in the process because it was in the way, and it fell limp to the ground with its face split in half, the crossbow slicing through to its brain. Daryl roared the engine of the bike to life once he got on and Beth swiftly got on the back, throwing her arms around him to hang on tight. He took off instantly, swerving around walkers that were in the dirt road.

She turned back right as the farm was about to be out of sight, and even through the fog she saw the barn go up in flames along with her house.

Beth turned her face back around, tears in her eyes. She should not have looked. Beth tightened her arms around Daryl in response and rested the side of her face against Daryl's back, against the angel wings.

She was okay.

She was alive.

Her hands shook, and she was in shock, but she was alive.

**_A/N: I want to quickly add that I am going back for fall term in a couple days so my updates won't be as frequent as they usually are. But I will try my hardest to balance college and writing! *Fingers crossed that my classes won't be too demanding and I will still have plenty of time to write*_**


	7. Chapter 7

On the road, it was very dark. There was no moon out that night to shed some light down onto them as Daryl and Beth sped down the road, only the stars gleamed in the sky against the dark matter that surrounded them.

Suddenly, Daryl came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the road, and Beth tightened her grasp around him to steady herself.

"What is it?" she asked, puzzled by why he stopped all of a sudden without warning.

"Get off," he ordered.

She was about to further question his request, but then she heard the alarming growling sounds of a large amount of walkers that crept out of the woods, stumbling out of the treeline. They made their way into the dirt road rapidly, too many of them for Daryl to get around on the motorcycle without being swarmed by them. Beth quickly got off, Daryl following after he took his crossbow off the back, abandoning the bike in the middle of the road.

"Come on. We gotta get outta here."

Daryl grabbed her by the arm, pulling on her coat, and they ran into the woods to seek refuge from the herd. The trees were dense and at times it was complicated to get around numerous rocks, ditches in the ground, and bushes that had sharp thorns attached. They ran for a long time, and when they finally stopped, Beth was out of breath; both Daryl and her were. Her chest heaved and her lungs burned with every new gasp of air that she let in. The air that she breathed into her throat felt like it was setting the lining on fire.

They sluggishly walked for about a mile more until they came to a very small clearing among the trees. They were still surrounded by thick woods, but above there was an opening in the branches full of yellow leaves where the stars shown down from above.

They were far enough away from the herd that Daryl felt secure enough to set up a camp for the rest of the night, which surprised her. She had never spent the night out in the open woods before, though she guessed that Daryl had done it a thousand times over. The only time she had come relatively close to that was when Maggie and her spent a few nights here and there in an old treehouse in the back of their property when they were younger with sleeping bags and piles of quilts.

Beth gathered up a bunch of dry sticks right away and Daryl requested to know why she was doing that if they didn't have anything to light a fire with easily, giving that it would be hard to find a way to create a spark by friction alone when it was so dark and would be difficult to see, or to find something in nature that could help them light some underbrush.

Beth slung her bag that had safely been on her back around her shoulder and opened it up. She dug around for what she was looking for, and then pulled out a pack of matches that she had swiped from the dining room china cabinet.

She could tell by the look on Daryl's face that he was surprised, yet impressed, that she had thought ahead, and that most certainly made her feel good. She was of some use after all.

"You always carry matches on you?" he asked.

Beth rolled her eyes. "No. I had them in my bag with some other essentials I thought might be necessary if I ever needed to get out quickly. After what Andrea told me about what it was like out there, not on the farm, I thought it would be best to be prepared...if anythin' were to happen. And it did, so—"

She didn't finish the sentence. Beth did not want to think about the loss of the farm, her childhood home. It was too much to bear. Too soon and too emotionally raw for her to be able to wrap her mind around the tragedy that had occurred not so long ago. All she could do was pray that everyone made it out safely and had gathered by the highway by this point.

_Maggie is with Glenn_, she reminded herself, relaying what Daryl had told her when he found her in the field.

When he told her that he went to come and get her.

He went looking for her even though there were massive amounts of walkers that roamed the farm, risking his own life to make sure hers was safe.

She smiled at the knowledge.

Daryl found her when no one else would have been able to.

Beth handed the sticks over to Daryl so he could arrange them, knowing he would do a much better job than her. Beth gently tumbled them down into his open arms. Her hands brushed up against his as she retracted hers out from underneath the pile of sticks, and that warm jolt through her body came back. She stopped moving her hands all together, the backs of them hovering right above his fingers. Daryl froze, a stunned expression playing out on his face for a short second, their blue eyes connecting with each other. To Beth, the world surely must have stopped turning at that moment. Daryl then dropped his gaze and withdrew from her, his shy nature brought out of him by the contact.

Beth thought that she might fall over when he moved away from her. She missed him being close to her.

_Did you feel it?_ she wanted to ask him, see if he noticed and got the unique feeling when their skin touched. Because this was not the first time their touches had brought forth a strange and unfamiliar reaction from the both of them. She thought that maybe he had because of the expression that she had caught displayed on his face once she took her hand away.

Hearing Daryl clear his throat as he crouched down to the ground to arrange the sticks yanked her out of her thoughts about their seemingly mysterious connection. She watched him, and he was more than aware of her stare. And she was not even ashamed of how she kept her eyes on him. Her gaze picked up on how Daryl nervously moved his hands, twitching about as he positioned the twigs and fallen branches as his eyes stayed anywhere but near hers.

"Can I have the matches?" he quickly muttered.

Beth took two steps forward and held out her hand to give them over. He glanced at it, then said, "Uh, actually, you can do it." He then got up off the ground and took his crossbow in his hand. "I'm gonna go look around. Make sure there ain't nothin' out here."

"Be careful," she murmured.

She knew that she did not need to remind Daryl to be cautious, but she felt the need to do it anyways. Daryl nodded and then turned to move into the trees.

He left Beth in wonder. She was sure now. Daryl's avoidance of taking the matches from her hand meant that he was hesitant about receiving a second wave of unexplainable feeling that went through them both when their skin touched. Was he afraid of it? Because to Beth, it honestly felt like his hands were supposed to be on her, that his touch was always supposed to be there. It was too intriguing not to be.

It felt right.

It felt good.

And Beth most definitely wanted that feeling back again.

Beth pulled a match out of the packet as she continued to think about her and Daryl's curious case of the world feeling _perfectly balanced _when they came in contact with each other. She ignited the small wooden stick and placed the burning match underneath some of the dried up grass Daryl had put below the strategically placed twigs and branches. It caught on fire instantly, the flames attaching to the dry grass and small twigs, and she blew on the flames to make them bigger so that way they would light the rest of the wood up.

Beth got up and meticulously moved the weeds and fallen leaves that were on the ground around so that she had soft spot to plant herself when she sat down. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her left knee. The arm on that side wrapped under her legs and her hand was placed right above her opposite knee cap. She sighed, playing with some of the blades of grass that were pressed against the side of her boot before pulling them out of the ground completely. She twirled the blades in her fingers and contemplated if maybe it were fate who put Daryl and her together after the escape from the overrun, walker infested farm. Maybe its subtle way of pushing them in the right direction—to each other.

She shook that out of her head. It was silly to think of something like fate in this world.

Beth pulled her coat on tighter, the coolness of the ground seeping through her body quickly. However, the fire was warm so she scooted closer and waited for Daryl to return, continuing to pluck grass blades out of the soil, creating a neat pile next to her.

Daryl took a while to get back. She guessed that it was because he wanted to avoid being alone with her for too long after their strange encounter. But, nonetheless, Daryl strode over to the opposite side of the fire and sat down with a grunt. "It's all clear," he affirmed. He kept his loaded crossbow close to him, opting to place it on the ground inches from his body in case he would need to grab it in a hurry.

"You should get some sleep," Daryl offered. "While you can."

"How could I possibly be able to sleep after what happened?" she gently replied with the truth. "And then we ran into yet another herd of walkers trying to escape the first one. It's literally one nightmare after another. Sleep would be impossible right now. Because in the back of my mind there's gonna be a walker right behind me once I close my eyes."

"I'm right here," he pointed out. "Ain't no walkers gettin' within thirty yards of ya."

"I know. And if walkers could think they would run in the other direction because you and your crossbow would scare the hell out of them."

It was a light joke, one that she thought would maybe improve the mood. Turns out, she was right.

Daryl smirked and said, "I don't know 'bout that."

Seeing the corners of his mouth turn up made Beth's heart skip a beat or two. She tilted her head and took a piece of her blonde hair into her fingers and unknowingly twisted it around. "You know, you should smile more often, Daryl. It looks good on you."

Daryl brought his fingers up to his mouth and bit his nail, probably to keep himself from smiling again, though it did not work out very well for him. She still saw the smirk he tried to fight back. She was damn proud that she could do that to him.

"Go to sleep, Greene."

"I told you, I can't. Not right now, at least," she replied, then asked, "Where do we all go from here?"

Daryl absently shrugged, not knowing how to precisely answer her question. All of their fates were undetermined now.

"It'll be winter soon," she continued, looking over some at the grounded plants that were beginning to shrivel up due to the colder temperatures during the nights, signifying that the season was changing. "I guess we'll be on the run from here on out."

"Could be worse," Daryl said, low and gruff.

"Yeah, it could," she agreed.

Beth always tried her best to be an optimist, but in a situation like this, after losing what she had, it proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Luckily, though, Daryl seemed to not be too worried about the foreseeable future. She was relaxed by that. He made her calmer, allowed the thoughts in her head about what was next to die down a bit.

"Can I ask you somethin'? Somethin' more personal?"

_Please say yes,_ she internally thought.

"What?"

Beth pushed him lips together, analyzing Daryl as he sat by the fire. "Did you have a girlfriend before all this?"

She anxiously waited for him to answer. Daryl snapped his eyes up to meet her interested ones. The flames that flickered light onto his face made him increasingly handsome and visually striking, causing Beth to swallow as her mouth inadvertently watered. His hooded eyes narrowed, looking her up and down the same way he did back when she went into his room when he was recovering from the shot to the head and the arrow in his side. That look still gave her chills.

"No."

"A wife?"

A sound escaped his mouth that sounded like it was half a laugh and half of a sigh. "Hell no."

She stopped there. Beth did not want to seem like she was pushing for answers, prying into his personal life too much. Especially, considering that Daryl appeared to keep it to himself and secretly hold onto it, guarded.

"Oh."

"Why you askin'," he inquired, suddenly very interested in the reason behind her questions about his previous love life.

Beth shrugged. "Just wanted to know."

It was not a lie, she did want to know. In fact, she had been overly eager to know the answer to her inquiries. But her reasons were ones that she felt might spook him if she said them out loud and to his face. At least, right now they would. But then there is a part of her that wondered if she came right out and said them that maybe Daryl would not be startled by her revealing words. Perhaps, he already had an inkling about her growing feelings.

She decided against that second thought. Not the right time. Not the right place. At least not for exposing her deep inner thoughts and affections for him.

"Wanted to know more about you," she then added.

Beth decided after a few minutes of silence that she would divert the conversation to what their task come the morning would be. "Daryl? We're in the middle of the woods. How are we supposed to find our way back to the road? We were runnin' in all different directions to get to here for who knows how long."

"I'll get us there. Don't worry."

Daryl seemed confident in his reply, not batting an eye of uncertainty.

"You sure?" she pursued.

It was not like she was actually worried. Being stuck in the woods with Daryl was not a bad thing, though she knew there was no way they would be trapped among the foliage for long.

Daryl looked up at her, throwing some sticks onto the fire so that it disrupted the balance of the sticks already in there, and sent glowing embers skyward. "Positive. All we gotta do is track the footprints back the way we came. Ain't hard at all."

That was right. She almost had forgotten that he was a tracker, a hunter. He knew his way around the woods and how to backtrack through them.

"Impressive," she warmly complimented.

Daryl huffed. "Hardly."

He never gave himself enough credit. It bothered her a bit, knowing that he could so easily brush something off like it was nothing when it was most certainly _something_. He had skills, and was too self-deprecating to be able to admit to them in the open. Or maybe he just did not believe that what he could do was quite admirable and praiseworthy in the first place.

"No, it is," she confirmed. "Not many people would be able to find their way back after going so far out. I mean, really, we're in the _middle_ of the woods. If it were just me out here, I'd never find my way out."

"Well, you ain't alone."

"Neither are you," she added quietly.

Daryl looked back over to her, something new in his eyes. He knew the true meaning of her statement, she was sure of that.


	8. Chapter 8

The yellow glow of morning came quick. Beth nodded off a few times as Daryl and her had waited for morning to move from their camp. She told him after the first time to make sure she stayed awake but Daryl let her drift off twice more, mumbling that he could keep watch.

When she woke up and dawn was on the horizon, she groaned, picking her head up off of her knees and glancing over at Daryl with sleepy eyes. "You let me fall asleep again," she accused of him.

He only shrugged one shoulder, not paying any particular attention to her statement. "You were tired," he explained, examining one of his arrows. "Lot of shit when down last night. Thought you might as well get some rest since we gotta hike back to the road. Ya need your energy to power them small legs of yours."

"They're not that small," she muttered, not liking that it sounded as if her _small legs _made her seem incapable of walking for a long period of time. After all, she was able to run all the way out to where their camp was. "They'll hold up, I promise. I got plenty of energy."

In all actuality, Beth was kind of grateful she got some sleep in and that Daryl let her rest her eyes for a little while. The previous night had been emotionally draining on her, and she was still not ready to think about what had happened back at the farm when it was destroyed by a massive influx of walkers and then by the fire Rick and Andrea set to destroy them to give them all an opportunity to get away.

So instead of thinking about that, Beth put her elbows down onto the ground and fell backwards so that she was flat on her back and stretched out her muscles after they had been cramped up after her body had been hunched over all night.

She inquired a look from Daryl as she stretched, and he seemed to be amused by her thin limbs being extended outwards as she winced from the way her muscles readjusted. She put her arms above her head to stretch them out and her back inadvertently lifted up off the ground the slightest bit, causing her shirt to rise and expose a sliver of her stomach. By chance, Beth's eyes drifted over to Daryl's and caught his own eyes on the newly exposed skin that she had accidentally shown. After that, he glimpsed up at her and they exchanged an awkward couple seconds long gaze that forced Daryl to then drop his eyes and get up from his spot, rubbing his scruff on his chin.

She secretly really liked it when he did that. It had proved to be one of his nervous twitches, and she found that to be absolutely adorable.

Beth positioned her shirt back in its place and relaxed back onto the ground for a moment to let her back get some relief. She watched as Daryl kicked some dirt onto the fire that had almost died out all the way.

"We should, uh, get goin'. Y'know? We need a good head start."

"Okay," Beth agreed, not in any rush, but knew that they needed to keep moving. "My sister is probably really worried by now."

Beth had been thinking about Maggie on and off as she had drifted in and out of sleep. She hoped that her sister was with everyone else and that they were all waiting for them by the highway where they originally all planned to meet after the farm incident. She also hoped that Maggie had not been too worried about her during the night. She would be thankful to hear that Daryl had kept her safe, _alive_, during the late hours when the planet was covered by darkness and danger lurked around every corner.

Beth got up from her place and threw her bag back over her shoulders. Daryl went first through the woods, telling her to keep alert and handed his large hunting knife over to her to use for protection if a walker snuck up and took them by surprise, which is doubtful because Daryl heard everything and was always prepared. She could have sworn that he had some type of superhuman sense of hearing.

When he handed over the hunting knife, she admired the blade for a minute as they trudged through the woods, looking at the shiny sharp edges and catching her reflection when the blade was tilted. She wished that she could actually use one of these large hunting knives properly. She hadn't a single clue as to what to do with it.

It was not long before she found herself ask, "How exactly would I use this thing?"

Daryl turned to her and stopped in his tracks, a look on his face that showed he was a bit troubled by her not knowing. "Dead people walkin' around tryin' to eat you and you don't know how to defend yourself?"

She quietly replied with, "Not really. Not like you, at least. Or the others. Back at the farm I killed one when I was with Maggie, but it's all a blur to me now."

"All you gotta do is grab the walker by the shirt and jab the tip of the knife into the eye. Through the eye is the best place 'cause it'll sink right through to the brain without any trouble. Just make sure your other hand don't get in the way so that the bastard can get teeth into ya."

"Shirt. Knife. Eye. Got it," she replied, trying to summon up a mental image of what it would look like put all together if she were to do it. She hardly remembered how she killed the walker on her porch, what had been her porch at the time, because it had happened so fast and too much adrenaline had been pumping through her veins for her to recall what had happened when she killed a walker for the first time before she ran into the fields.

"Here. You wanna practice on me real quick? Get an idea of how you gotta do it?"

At first she didn't think she heard him correctly.

"I think you might need both of your eyes," she lightly joked, trying to hold back a smile.

_Those beautiful blue eyes of his._

He huffed. "Thanks for takin' that into consideration. But I'm serious here. You gotta know this basic stuff. It's kill or be killed. Your sister would throw me off a bridge if I came back and you were bit," he said, unsettling her nerves. "Act like I'm a walker and pretend to kill me. Go through the motions. Just put that knife down into the ground. Don't want any accidents."

Beth bent down and stuck the blade part of the knife into the dirt like Daryl had said and stood there for a moment, then lifted her hands up. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"You gotta attack me if you're supposed to be a walker. I ain't gonna come across one that just stands there and blankly looks at me," she explained. "Wouldn't have to kill it if it did that."

Daryl sighed. "Seriously?"

"You're the one who started this whole thing. Remember?" she pointed out, in a more impatient tone. "Now, come one. Come at me so I can fake kill you."

Daryl sighed again, but did as she had demandingly requested. He threw his crossbow over his shoulder after a quick look around the area to make sure that it was safe enough to have it on his back for a minute or so. He casually walked towards her, not acting the part, and she caught him, placing a hand right below his neck.

More chills ran through her but she ignored them.

"Your arm is too close. A walker could easily bite you," he smugly told her.

Beth adjusted her arm farther away so that it was in a tight grasp on his shoulder that was covered by his angel wing vest, right after his collarbone ended. "Better?"

"Yeah, now all you gotta do is swing back and throw some muscle into the kill so the knife goes through all the way. Keep the other arm straight." She mimicked the motion that she saw in her head and brought her enclosed fist up in front of Daryl's eye, pretending that she still had the knife in her hand. "Good," he praised.

And then suddenly, Beth became aware of how close she was to Daryl, their bodies facing each other. She was shorter than him, but she thought that it was a nice difference in height, and it seemed like they fit together well. Her hand was still on his shoulder and it began to feel like it was going to burn a hole straight through his jacket and into his flesh, the edge of her thumb feeling the warmth of his skin come through his worn shirt.

They somehow always ended up coming in contact with one another.

The strange recurrence of the event that kept on happening only further allowed her to believe that there was something about the two of them being put together that made sense.

Daryl looked down at her, also aware of their closeness, waiting for her to step away as he stood there still as one could be. Beth let her eyelids close a few times and open back up before she realized that she was lingering for too long.

Beth smiled and dropped her hand, taking a small step backwards to pick the knife out of the ground, more confident that she had some idea of how she could kill a walker with the blade. "You should teach me more sometime."

"Yeah, maybe later."

She would take and hold onto the possibility that she might be able to get a lesson from Daryl sometime in the future.

They picked back up again, trudging through the woods with a long walk ahead of them. Beth looked over at Daryl, thankful that he also thought she was in need of some teaching. Survival skills were not a topic she knew much about, and Daryl was a master at it.

They walked for a while as Daryl navigated the right way to go, mostly in silence, but a comfortable one that did not seem to faze either of them. There was no pressure to make conversation as Daryl proficiently tracked his way back to the road, easily finding their footprints among the leaves and the dirt. The footprints they had left behind stuck out like a sore thumb to him. Beth was amazed at how he went about finding the prints of their boots without any trouble at all, like it was no big deal. She really wanted to reach inside Daryl's brain and take some of that extensive knowledge and skill out for herself.

She could use it, considering she had about zero survival instincts.

She made a mental note to change that somehow.

After a while, Beth did begin to feel like her energy had started to drain away, and realized that Daryl had been smart about letting her get some rest so that she did not slow them down out of exhaustion. "Hey, thanks for lettin' me sleep earlier," she thanked him, gratefully. "I guess I did kinda need it."

"No big deal. 'Sides, doubt you would have wanted to stare into the fire all night long and exchange ghost stories while we waited for the sun to come up. I ain't that good of company."

"You know, it's not that bad," she told him. "Spending the night with you, I mean."

Damn. That had inadvertently sounded kind of dirty.

That thought was only reaffirmed when Daryl chuckled to himself, turning in the other direction to try and hide it as he followed their tracks in the soil. Some heat rose to her cheeks, and she tried her best to ignore that, even though it gave her a whirling feeling inside of her. She fought back the urge to say _that's not what I meant_, but she knew that he understood the real meaning of what she had said.

—

Daryl and Beth made it out of the woods in good time. She was still impressed by how he had tracked down their footprints and led them in the right direction, into safety. They walked down the dirt road until they got to the paved one, which had taken some time due to the length of the roads.

All the members of the group came into sight, sitting on top of cars, letting her know that it was true and they all regrouped by the road after the loss of the farm.

As they winded around the cars, Beth noticed that Dale stood on top of a large white SUV and was looking into a pair of binoculars. She assumed that he was trying to figure out if the movement Daryl and Beth created as they walked was from walkers that were coming in their direction since the closeness of the cars made it harder to see if the two of them were living humans or the dead. Beth ducked out from behind one of the cars and waved at him to let him know that they were not a threat.

"We made it!" she smiled at Daryl.

"Told you we would."

"I didn't doubt you for a second," she replied, excited to be back with the others. Back with the family.

"Beth!" she heard her sister call out, dropping a blanket that had been wrapped around her shoulders onto the roof a car. She jumped down and darted towards her as Beth took off and weaved through the cars to get to her sister.

Maggie threw her arms around Beth, tightly holding her as she squeezed the life out of her. "Can't breathe," Beth managed to get out.

"Sorry," she apologized. Maggie pulled away and kept Beth at arm's length, her hands on her shoulders and arms extended out in front of her. "Are you okay? I was so worried about you making it here."

"I'm fine. Daryl found me," she relayed, Daryl striding up beside her. "We would have made it here but we had to detour when we were forced to run away from walkers that swarmed us on the road and we spent the night in the woods. That's why we didn't make it here last night."

Maggie gave Daryl a grateful smile upon hearing the news. "Thank you for keeping her safe."

Daryl only nodded and then pushed past Maggie to go over to where Rick stood with Carl.

That was when Beth saw her daddy coming towards them. He brought the both of his girls in for a hug. "I thank God that the two of you are safe. You are the two most precious things in my life."

"Oh, daddy, don't get all sentimental," Maggie teasingly complained.

Maggie pulled away, brushing some hair out of Beth's face. "I have something to tell you. Patricia's gone," her sister told Beth tearfully, holding back the water in her eyes. "She helped safe my life, but she's gone."

"Oh."

She understood. Gone meant dead.

That hurt like a blow to the gut. She had known Patricia for almost her whole life, as long as she could remember. And now she would never get see her again.

A few minutes later when Beth stood alone, Daryl same up beside her, overhearing the news about Patricia. "You okay?" Daryl asked her.

Beth nodded. "I will be."

_**A/N: If you did not know already, I just posted a oneshot of bethyl smut titled During the Night.** **So be a wonderful person and go read and tell me what you think ;) **_


	9. Chapter 9

Everyone questioned what to do, where to go from here, and Rick had a breakdown that night.

And that might just be an understatement.

He yelled at everyone, telling them that he killed his best friend for them, something that clearly dug through his conscious at the moment. Told them all that he did not ask to be put in charge but now he was and that was that. No arguments. No questioning. No debate. And no one said a word about it. Rick went on to say something about finding a place where they could all live safely, that he knew it existed. It was simply a matter of finding it. His speech was really emotional on his part, and a bit terrifying at the same time.

Beth exchanged a worried look with Maggie after Rick crouched down to the ground to collect his thoughts, running his hands over his face and into his hair to make sense of everything that had happened. Everyone stared, unsure of what to say, of what to do. They all looked around, waiting for someone to make the first move. Finally, Daryl came up behind Beth so he was in view of the rest of the group, and addressed to everyone, "Come on. Man needs some time to himself. Give him some space."

Uncertainty hung heavy in the air after that.

A couple hours later, Lori was off trying to comfort Rick somewhere unseen as Dale looked after Carl for them, as Lori tried to break through to Rick and let him know that, after all, he did the right thing for all of them. He kept them safe. They were all alive. And that right there was all anyone could ever hope for.

They all planned on staying on the road that night, and no one left after Rick said that anyone who wanted to leave could. He wouldn't stop them. But no one truly wanted to leave, even if the thought passed through their mind at some point. They wouldn't go. They were safer in numbers.

That, and they were something of a family now. And family stuck together no matter what.

Even this one.

So they all decided to go through the cars and separate out what they could to avoid walking around aimlessly. Collect anything useful, that was the plan. Warmer clothes, any food, water, medication, batteries.

They all had a long road ahead of them.

A road that was filled with nothing but uncertainty, doubt, and probably some pain along the way. Their journey together would be rough. But like she said, they were family and they would get through it. Tough times and all.

Beth shuffled through some of the abandoned cars with Andrea and Maggie by her side, the three of them tearing apart cars inch by inch, rummaging through everything as the others did the same. They came up with a bundle of items that could come in handy, including some cans of beans and a few bags of rice that they would be able to cook sometime in the future, and then a few bottles of water that they passed around.

It was pitch dark out again that night when everyone tried to settle in for a long night by the road, keeping watch and alternating sleeping. The group members remained shaken up about the previous night on the farm, the running, the killing, and the terror of having a walker come at them with hunger in their dead, cold eyes. That was all hard to swallow. Then on top of that, there was Rick, who was desperately trying to sort everything out.

But they were alive.

They survived it.

All they had to do was keep that in mind and they could push forward.

Without a doubt, they would make it.

There was no other option.

_Keep going, keep moving, keep surviving, keep living._

Beth calmly sat down by the small fire that they created off the side of the road in the grass for some warmth until morning, to shoo away any chill that might creep up during their camp out by the abandoned and dark road littered with vehicles that reminded Beth of a graveyard. It was yet another night that she would spend out in the open, in the elements of nature. But luckily, like the first time, Daryl was right there. In fact, since they gotten to the road and reunited with everyone, she took note that Daryl had never been far from her, always within seeing distance.

It seemed that their gravitational pull that brought them together did not cease when others were around. He came up behind her and sat next to her by the fire, a certain distance between them, but they were still closer than they had been before.

"What a night," she commented.

"I hear ya."

"I guess it's just the start, though. That there's more crazy nights ahead."

Daryl loudly sighed, contemplating her prediction. "Guess so."

Suddenly, Beth needed to know the answer to a question that she had been pondering for a little while. She knew that she trusted Daryl completely, trusted his judgment. Perhaps, he would be able to give her the answer that she was looking for, the one that she needed to hear.

"Do you think it's possible?"

"What?"

"That there's a place for all of us somewhere, like Rick said," she explained, keeping her voice in a level tone as if to not come across overly hopeful. "Some place that is safe and we wouldn't have to be out in the open like this? Worried about getting eaten or overrun? A place that is secure and we could have some form of a _normal_ life, if that word even has the same meaning anymore."

She seriously doubted she remembered what normal was.

Daryl took a minute to reply, then simply said, "I trust Rick."

She knew what it meant. Daryl trusted Rick's judgment like how Beth trusted Daryl's, and if he thought that there was a place for them all out there somewhere among the ruin, then there must be. And Beth had faith that there was a place like that, too. There had to be.

She had her answer. One that she accepted.

Beth leaned back until she felt the grass that was on the ground. She adjusted the silver beanie that she had on her head to keep warm, one that she found stuffed into a suitcase in a red 2007 Jeep, so that way she could look up at the sky better and the beanie was no longer pushing any hairs into her face, her hair coming out of its side braid.

The sky was clear of any clouds that night, still no moon to give any light, but there were many stars shimmering down with some of them twinkling. Beth ran through the list of constellations that she knew of in her mind, spotting various ones in the sky from the angle she had from the ground.

To be honest, sometimes it was hard to believe that the world was not the best of places anymore, that the dead walked around trying to kill and eat and terrorize. Because as Beth stared up into the night sky, all she could think about was that it looked as beautiful as any night before the turn. It was like nothing had changed.

But it did.

And the universe was no longer the same.

The people around her were no longer the same people they once were, and neither was Beth. They were different, changed indefinitely, and they all had to accept that fact.

Still, Beth persisted with tracing together the stars like she had been doing for years. She could spot a majority of the twelve zodiac signs in the sky, and she used that to pass some of the time, replaying the stories behind them in her head as she came across their position in the sky, against the dark background.

"Look." She nudged Daryl with her hand and pointed to the moving object in the sky that she was able to see with her naked eyes. "There's a satellite still in orbit. How 'bout that?"

Daryl looked up as well, noticing the small object that looked similar to a star as it moved at a steady pace across the sky, from one end to the other before it disappeared, going around the Earth again.

"NASA would be pretty damn happy 'bout that."

Beth turned her head to him, feeling the cool ground against her cheek. "Might not have been owned by the United States. It could be another country's satellite. Russia or China or England. Anyone's, really."

Daryl threw her a look. "Don't be smartass."

"What?" she giggled. "I'm just sayin'."

"Not like it matters much now. Don't belong to nobody anymore."

"You're right. It doesn't have a purpose anymore. It's destined to keep in orbit until it is knocked out of it. Probably end up burning up in the atmosphere as it reenters towards the ground."

"Ain't like you gotta worry 'bout it fallin' on anybody," he mildly joked.

Beth let out a small laugh anyways, finding the humor funny. "I guess not. It would be really unfortunate for it to do that, though. I mean imagine all the wide open space and debris just so happens to hit someone or a house that a person is livin' in who is still alive in a world filled with the dead. Talk about bad luck..."

Beth drifted off, not finishing the thought. There was something else on her mind.

"I wonder what the view is from up there," Beth continued, the image popping into her head as she stared skywards." I mean, it must be so dark. Every single continent is in darkness. And to think that there used to be so many lights that you could make out where cities were and where it was more rural. You could see the outline of everythin'. It was all lit up. And now? Now it's all dark. Nothing to be seen."

That idea alone gave her a slight chill down her arms, creating little bumps underneath her jacket.

Beth glanced up to say something else to Daryl, but she lost her train of thought when he met her eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds, time seemingly stopping and the world fading away. No one had ever been able to make that happen for her, not even close to it. Beth was frozen in place, not even blinking. It was like her body stopped knowing how to function properly when Daryl's hooded blue eyes that were illuminated by the brightness of the fire were on her, and only her, looking nowhere else. And Daryl continued to stare down at her from where he sat with his crossbow beside him, knees drawn up more towards his torso, boots firmly on the ground, and with his hands dangling off of the perch of his kneecaps.

He looked like he wanted to tear his eyes away from hers, but was not able to. And Beth didn't want him to, either.

"What are you two talking about over here?" Andrea asked, sitting down next to Beth on the other side of her, and interrupting the moment that she and Daryl had, both of them dropping their gaze.

"Satellites fallin' on people," she quickly replied, that oddly being the only thing she remembered at that point.

Andrea looked over, surprised. But a smile did form on her face. "Interesting."

"Very," Daryl agreed, moving his head the slightest bit back towards Beth as he said it.

Beth furrowed her eyebrows in a curious manner, fascinated by the way he had said what he did.

She shot him another look. She was not sure if he meant that the whole ridiculous satellite falling from the sky thing was what he was referring to as being very interesting, or if he meant about the previous look that they had exchanged when the world stopped moving and it was only the two of them there when their eyes met.

Beth's smile faded when Daryl quickly glanced back over to her, without Andrea noticing. She knew it was her that he referred to as interesting.


	10. Chapter 10

There was a shift between Daryl and Beth.

She couldn't quite place what it was, not exactly. It was a feeling, a sense that things were changing. Of course, neither of them said anything to the other, but Beth knew that Daryl felt it too. He spent more time around her, talked to her, threw glances in her direction when he thought that no one else was looking. However, Beth noticed. She noticed everything that Daryl did. Quite frankly, it was hard for her not to examine him and the things that he did.

The shift between them made her excited, and giddy, and kind of scared, but in a good way. The thought of Daryl often distracted her as they would tear through houses while they all kept moving from place to place. Every day it was the same routine over and over again.

They never stopped. They couldn't afford to do that.

However, they found a large wooden cabin style house that back on some open land that must have been owned by someone with a lot of money in their bank account. Trees that had turned yellow and red surrounded the outer property line, and Rick concluded that it was a good place to bunker down for a few days. They were all exhausted, both physically and mentally drained. Beth had tried to keep track of the days and believed that it had been almost a month and a half after her home was burned to the ground and they were all forced to leave, and in that time they had constantly been on the run.

That took its own toll on everyone.

So Rick, T-Dog, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, and Andrea all did a sweep of the house while the rest of them stayed outside and watched the perimeter. And that irked Beth. She was extremely bothered by it. She felt like she wanted to help out inside, feel like she was part of the team. Because playing watch dog outside was not any fun. It basically told her that she was a weak link.

Beth decided that she was going to need to change that. Because, after all, she remembered the whole _survival of the fittest_ concept in all of her previous science classes.

Only the strong survive.

The weak die out.

Plain and simple.

And Beth did not want to be weak. She did not want to resemble anything that was close to useless or frail. A person like that could not survive in the world they all lived in now.

Beth got distracted when Glenn came out and gave the okay to come in, that it was all clear inside. Carol and Beth walked up the steps side by side as her daddy, Dale, Carl, and Lori walked behind them. The dark wooden porch that wrapped around the house reminded her of her own home.

She almost thought about her house, but found that the energy to spend thinking about it would cost her too much. Instead, she focused on getting inside this house, one that was not like her old one.

This house was nice enough. It was all wood on the inside, but very elegant. It was cozy, even though it was not her house or a house she had ever been to before. There was a certain charm to it. Whoever had lived here must have abandoned it a long time ago because there were white sheets over all the furniture. There was also a layer of dust on everything. Beth swiped her finger across a table and then dusted off her hands with the coating of gray that turned up after she did that.

A few hours later she wandered through the house after everyone had searched the place, looking into the rooms to see what they offered.

Something caught her eye.

Beth moved over to a wooden floorboard that was raised up in the slightest bit. She looked at it for a moment, trying to decide if it was there purposefully or if it was only a minor flaw in construction. But she doubted that the previous owner of the house would have left something like that unattended. The uneven floorboard was not that noticeable, but it was enough to make her question.

Beth went back out into the living room, where a number of items they had found in the house had been laid out. Her eyes perused them, looking for something useful. She settled for the hammer that was on the floor.

She went back down the hallway that she had come from with the hammer in hand, acquiring an inquisitive look from Daryl as she passed him in the hall. "Whatcha doin' with that?"

Beth was reluctant to tell him, just in case she was wrong about the floorboards. She didn't want to come off as an idiot who was taking apart random parts of the house they were going to be staying in.

But, then again, it was Daryl. She could tell him.

"I think I found somethin' interesting."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mmhm."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And the hammer is for..."

"Prying open the floor," she honestly told him.

The plan sounded even more unusual out loud.

"Good luck with that," Daryl sarcastically told her, eyes flicking to the hammer and then back up to her with a smirk on his face.

Beth put her hand on her hip. "Come with me," she insisted. "You know, in case somethin' creepy is under the floorboards. I've seen too many horror movies that Maggie forced me into watchin'. Who knows what could be hiding underneath the floor."

"What?" he questioned, half laughing. "Like pieces of a skeleton? Think you're gonna find a skull in there, Greene? Like the owner of this place was some kind of serial killer who hides the victims under the house?"

"Yes. Exactly."

She was pretty sure that she had seen a movie with a plot precisely like that.

"Yeah, that or dead rodents."

"What?" Beth made a displeased face. "Why would you say that? That's just gross."

"Grosser than the skeleton head you think you might find?"

Beth shook her head and ignored him, rolling her eyes playfully. "Come on. Are you gonna help me or not?"

"I think you can handle it yourself, don't ya think?"

She guessed that he was right. Beth _could_ handle it herself. She walked back down the hallway and took a left into the bedroom that she had come out of. She knelt down to the ground, placing the claw of the hammer underneath the wood, it being lifted up just enough for her to get all of the metal to disappear beneath the floor.

_Please, don't let this be a horror movie moment, _she thought to herself, _and no dead rats._

Beth used all her strength to pop up the nails that had been screwed into the slab of wood, and pried open the floorboard, setting it down on the floor to the left of the now open spot. She hesitantly looked in, peering into it from the side. And to her surprise, it was more than she could have asked for.

There had been some sort of hidden floorboard storage that was underneath. Beth couldn't actually believe the luck that she had found it. There was an entire row of canned food that was neatly lined up. She picked some of them up, looking at the labels. There were cans of black beans, sweet peas, corn, mixed fruit, diced tomatoes, a few jars of peanut butter, and a couple packages of dry pasta.

She seriously struck gold there.

Beth couldn't help but smile to herself. They could actually eat a decent dinner that night, and also have some leftovers for another few days. Really, it was exactly what they all needed.

Beth took a moment to silently thank whoever had lived there in the house before and had stored this food. Whoever they were, they deserved some sort of silver metal for this kind of thing.

She picked up all of the items and set them down on the floor, excited that they would be having a nice meal in the evening hours. She scooped as much as she could up and strode back down the long hallway that led out into the living room. Maggie and Andrea were there, conversing about the various useful things that they found, and the things they would be in need of. Daryl popped out from around the corner, eyeing Beth. "Looks like you won't need to hunt tonight," she told him.

Maggie and Andrea both looked up and their eyes instantaneously went to the armful of food. "Found this," she explained, dropping it onto the table. "There's more back there."

The three of them looked quite amazed, and Beth felt kind of proud that her curiosity in the raised floorboards had led to amazing results.

"Nice going, Beth," Andrea praised while hooking an arm around Beth to give her a side hug.

"Thanks."

"Wow, where did you find all this?" he sister asked, picking up jars. "I thought we looked everywhere."

"It was under the floorboards in the bedroom in the back," she explained. When Maggie raised her eyebrows at Beth, she simply replied with, "Don't ask."

When the sun went down, they all feasted. Dinner was the best they had since on the farm. Lori quickly whipped up a nice combination of the foods for with the pasta that they cooked, serving it on some of the plates they found in the musty kitchen cabinets, under the swirled brown granite countertops. For the most part, they ate in silence, scoffing down the food.

Beth took a swift glimpse around at everyone as they ate, and for the first time in a while, she felt blessed that they were all there. Together. A family surviving.

She thought about it more as she twisted the pasta around in her fork. Food used to bring people together in the old world, and yet it still did in this one. Her family was all sitting together and enjoying each other's company, enjoying the fact that they were safe, at least for another night. And, yes, the circumstances weren't the best. They hadn't had a proper meal in weeks. But still. It was enough. It was a short moment in time were they could all stop and recognize how far they have come, how much they all fought to get to this point.

How much it was still _worth_ being here on the Earth.

Hopefully, if they played their cards right, they would have a place where they would be safe like Rick said, and they could have family meals again. Every day. Maybe.

Beth didn't want to get her hopes up too high, but she was an optimistic person. They would find a safe place.

After dinner, they all went their separate ways, taking advantage of the water supply and clean showers that were provided. The water was cool in temperature, but none of them cared. As long as they could get the dirt and grime off with a steady stream of water, that would work for them. No complaints.

Beth had gone off on her own and was sitting on the floor with her back up against the wall, not able to look out the window because Rick and Daryl had boarded them all up earlier in the day. Now, it was night and everyone was getting ready to get settled in. She was in the room right off from the front door, this room having a stone fireplace on the opposite wall with a few covered furniture pieces. She had her knees up so that they could balance the sketchbook that she had. There was not much else to do, so Beth had chosen to be alone in order to be able to get inside her own head and finish up on some of the drawings, but then was distracted by how pretty the unused fireplace was, and decided to draw that instead.

It had been a number of minutes and she only had the initial outline done when she got the sense that she was being watched. She turned her head to the side to see Daryl in the room doorway looking down at her as her pencil glided over the page. He spooked her, and she jolted, not expecting anyone to be there.

"Daryl," she lightly scolded. "You scared me."

"Sorry," he roughly grumbled.

"It's okay," she said, placing her hand over her heart that had picked up the pace of its beats. "We're gonna need to put a bell on you or somethin'. You sneak up out of nowhere. You're too light on your feet. Too quiet."

"Yeah, well, needed to so I could hunt. Stuck with me, I guess."

Beth half expected Daryl to leave after that, but he lingered where he stood.

He motioned to the book of pages she had. "What are you doin'?"

"Sketching," she replied, looking up and moving the edge of her paper a bit. "Haven't been able to in a while. It's a good stress reliever for me. And I don't have my journal anymore so I can't write anythin' down. But this is better."

Daryl entered the room and sat down next to her with a grunt so that he was up against the wall like Beth was. After a moment he muttered, "You gonna show me 'em, or what?"

Beth smiled and handed over the book without hesitating. And honestly, she was a bit nervous about him seeing the sketches that she had never showed anyone before. He went through some of the pictures, and Beth watched his rough hands as he turned the pages. The sketch of the house and farm turned up, and that caused Daryl to hesitate. Beth reached over and turned the page for him, letting him know that she was okay and that it didn't hurt as bad to have to see the image of something that was no longer there anymore.

"These ain't bad," he commented, scanning through more pages. "Actually really good."

"Thanks," she accepted the compliment.

It was not every day that Daryl Dixon complimented, well, anything.

"Not all of them are finished, though," she murmured. "I keep findin' more to draw and the other ones get forgotten."

He paned through the sketches, interested. There were simple ones like of the peach trees in an orchard or the autumn leaves that she colored in with cheap colored pencils. And then there were the ones that took more time, more effort and attention to detail, like how she drew Lori with her arms around Carl, or the one she drew of her sister smiling at Glenn.

He turned the page again, and then Beth froze. She had forgotten that the drawing of Daryl had been mixed in with the others, the one she finished the night they escaped from the farm.

"Oh," she let the word escape her mouth. How had she forgotten that was in there? Beth blushed, embarrassed. She messed with her fingernails for a second until she looked over at the picture again. "Sorry. Is it weird that I have that in there? I hope you don't mind."

"S'fine."

"Really?"

He nodded his head.

"Wanna pose? I can draw another," she joked.

Daryl snorted, then shot her an amused look, knowing that she was not serious. "Do I look like a model to you? Ain't never posed a day in my life. Ain't gonna start now."

"Not even for me?" she pouted.

"Nope."

Beth giggled. "That's okay. I'm only teasing. I know you wouldn't. But that's just fine." She tapped her head twice with her pointer finger. "I've got it all up here. I don't need to see it to draw it. I can picture it and then, _voila_, it's on paper."

"That takes talent."

Wait a damn minute. Had he just given her _another_ compliment? Was today some sort of day of Daryl Dixon's free giveaway of praise and compliments that she had been unaware of?

"I guess so," she humbly replied, shrugging a shoulder.

"You should give yourself more credit," he countered, handing the book back to her as he shut it closed.

She rolled her eyes, them settling on the ceiling, and then back over to Daryl. "So should you. No one else here can hunt like you. I'm sure you've noticed that by now. Half of us wouldn't be alive if you hadn't brought animals back from your hunts so we can all eat now that we're out on the run trying to find a safe place to stop."

Daryl dropped his head, eyes going to the ground. "Stop," he grumbled in almost a whisper.

"I'm completely serious, Daryl. You help keep people alive, whether you choose to believe that or not, it's the truth. I wouldn't lie to you."

There are a thousand other things she would have liked to say to him right then. She wanted to express how much worth he had, because she knew that he thought very little of himself. But now was not the time.

A few more beats went by, and then she finally admitted, "I like talkin' to you."

"Don't get all sappy on me, Greene," he replied.

It was quite for a moment, a comfortable silence.

Daryl let out a long sigh. "I like talkin' with ya too."

**_A/N: It was such a struggle to get this chapter out. My classes have completely overwhelmed me. Excuses, excuses. I know!_ _I'm working on finding time for everything. Thanks for reading! _**


	11. Chapter 11

"You're bein' obvious. I can see the way you look at him," Maggie nonchalantly revealed to Beth as they walked side by side down the road. "You look at him differently than before, back at the farm, I mean. I can tell."

"Maggie," Beth complained in a whiny voice, stressing the last two vowels of her sister's name.

"No one can hear," she pointed out, observing that everyone else was ahead of them as they walked, preoccupied with keeping an eye out for any walkers or other people that might be a threat.

Beth knew that it was true. No one was paying any attention to the two girls in the back of the group who were taking in hushed voices. Daryl was all the way in the front of the group along with Rick, and would occasionally look back at her, as if to make sure Beth was still there. Her heart would practically fall out of her chest when he did that. It meant that to some extent, he cared.

"Fine," Beth gave in and decided to indulge whatever was on her sister's mind. "What is it?"

The wind blew, causing Maggie to tuck her hair behind her ear so she could see Beth without any wisps of brunette hair obstructing her view. She turned more towards Beth as they kept moving forward. "I don't want you to get hurt. Daryl is so reserved and…_un_emotional."

"You don't know him like I do," she swiftly defended.

Daryl and her had grown closer since the farm, that was clear to her. Generally speaking, they all had. But that was what happened when they were forced into the small spaces of shelters or campsites. People would generally become closer, more like actual blood relatives. Beth would argue that these people around her now were closer to her than most of her own blood related relatives, which were now all deceased.

There was something about surviving with people, with depending on them, all of them depending on each other as a community unit that kept them alive, which bonded them in this unique way.

A special way.

Something that could not be broken.

Maggie shifted around next to her, contemplating what Beth had honestly told her. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," she sassed, trying not to laugh. "I'm always right."

Maggie bumped her shoulder, sending Beth a step to the right because she really small and the littlest unexpected force could move her, unfortunately. "Maggie!" she squeaked, moving sideways to bump her sister back in the same way.

They both giggled, turning back to walking. It was moments like that one where it felt like some things would never change, walker apocalypse or not. Beth and Maggie would always mess around and joke no matter how grim the situation would be.

"Will you trust me? When it comes to Daryl? I don't know what I'm doing but do you really think he knows either?" Beth whispered, serious.

Maggie moved her mouth from side to side, thinking about it. "I trust you," she declared, looking over at Beth with sincerity. Then she added, "Please keep me in the loop, though. Don't shut me out, okay? I want to know what's going on, how you feel. I'm still you older sister, after all. I gotta have all the interesting details."

Beth rolled her eyes. "I already tell you everythin'. You don't gotta worry about that."

"Okay," her sister agreed, watching as Glenn stopped in the road in the front of the group, waiting for the two girls to make their way up beside him, prompting Maggie to drop the subject of Daryl. Maggie discreetly turned her head, keeping her voice down as she suggested, "We can talk more later."

—

"How do you know all this stuff?" she asked Daryl.

"Learned it over the years. It ain't hard now. Barely got to think about it."

They were out in the woods together, something Beth found that she enjoyed a lot. Beth had asked to come along with Daryl to go on a hunt for some dinner for the group, needing to get away from the mass of people. Because being with Daryl in the woods had a calming effect on Beth. It was like an escape to her.

It had gotten significantly colder outside over the week. There would be a light frost on the ground in the early mornings, making the leaves crunch when stepped on. And although it was not morning, the late afternoon sun offered up little heat to Daryl and Beth as they scanned the area.

Beth had a dark blue scarf wrapped around her neck to keep her warmer, one that Carol had found and had nicely given to Beth the other day, saying that it complimented her eyes. Now Beth was grateful for the material that was helping to keep her small neck from freezing. But she did find that her usual ponytail was not much help when it came to keeping her ears warm. They felt like they were about to fall off of her body completely due to the numbness. She reached up and took out the elastic band, letting her hair free fall down onto her shoulders, already feeling better since the chill could not as easily work its way through her thick blonde hair.

"What are you doin'?" Daryl questioned her, noticing her smoothing out the wavy hair, adjusting the scarf accordingly.

"I would really like to keep my ears attached to my body for now. It's too cold out here," she explained. "Feels like they might shatter at any second and fall to the ground."

"Don't be overdramatic, Greene." Daryl's eyes glanced over her hair for a moment before he turned back to tracking down what looked to be the tracks of a couple of rabbits. "Never seen it all the way down before."

"Does it look bad?"

She waited. Daryl hesitated.

"Looks fine," he finally decided.

Beth smiled, accepting the answer.

She reached into the small bag she had with her and grabbed out the silver beanie that was in there, remembering how her mother used to say that a lot of crucial body heat escaped through the ends of the body—the head and the feet. She put the beanie onto the top of her head, adjusting her hair with it so none of the blonde locks were in the way and no edges were sticking out.

Because, yes, even out there in the woods in the middle of winter, Beth still wanted to look nice because she was with Daryl.

It might be crazy, but she didn't care.

She already had previously noted that he noticed that she never wore her hair down all the way, that it had always been in either a ponytail or a braid. Daryl Dixon actually noticed the styles of how she wore her hair. That was big, to her at least. That meant that he noticed _her_. That might be a stretch, but it was something.

A cold gust of wind blew past them, prompting Beth to pull her coat tighter. Her soft gloves where automatically shoved into the pockets of her coat due to the chill that made its way through her body.

"What if a walker comes?" Daryl asked her, pointing out that her hands should be free in case she had to defend herself with the knife that was at her side.

Beth sighed at the impossible situation she was in. She wanted to be completely warm but also did not want to think about the possibility of dying because she had her hands tucked away in her coat pockets. That would be a ridiculous way to die or to get bitten.

"You'll kill it," she countered his question, unwilling to remove her hands. "With your crossbow. You'd see a walker before I did anyways."

"That might not be true. What if I wasn't here?"

"I wouldn't be in the middle of the woods if you weren't here, now would I?" she dared to point out to Daryl.

Daryl snorted, appreciating her smartass remark. They bickered back and forth all the time lately. It was almost like a game to them, to see how far they could go with their exchange of clever words. And as she predicted, Beth most always won, lasted the longest, never growing tired of the banter between them.

_Old married couple. _

That was what Glenn had called Daryl and Beth when he had overheard their playful bickering by the fire when they were camped out in the woods a few nights ago when the weather had been milder. Beth had blushed, smiling at the reference. Daryl, on the other hand, had gotten flustered and averted his eyes. Beth had tried her best to bring him out of the shell he had put himself into after the harmless comment by putting her hand up, dangling it in front of Daryl once Glenn had walked away and left the two of them alone again. "Hey, where's my diamond ring, Mr. Dixon?"

After that, the corner of his lips turned up into a half smirk, rolling his eyes skyward. "You must have lost it," he mumbled, playing along.

Even in the woods and in the cold as they tracked down dinner, Beth grinned at the memory of the few nights ago.

It did not go unnoticed.

"Why you smilin' over there, Greene?"

She shrugged, taking in a crisp breath of the air surrounding her, smelling the brisk scent that lingered around them while among the pine trees. "Maybe I'm just happy."

"Happy?" The way he had repeated the emotion she had described made it sound like it was the most absurd notion in the world.

Beth strolled up beside of him instead of being behind. "Yes_. Happy_. It's nice bein' out here." A brief moment passed, and Beth summoned up the courage to add the additional phrase of, "I like being here with you. I like _you _in general. A lot. Maybe more than I should..."

Daryl glimpsed over at her, looking at her in a way like he was trying to understand if she was telling the truth or if she was just messing with him. But, indeed, she had been honest with what she had revealed to him.

"_Why_?" he asked, southern accent thick, said in a way that made it sound like it was unfathomable to think that she would enjoy being around him and that she liked him in more than a friendly way.

Beth had a hard time pinning down an exact reason that she could say to Daryl's question of _why_. Truthfully, there were many of them. Some were not easy to explain by any means.

"I like how I feel when it's me and you. Don't ask me because I don't know why. It's just a feeling. One that's always been there." In that moment, Beth recalled all of the times that she had caught Daryl watching her when no one else was supposed to be looking. "And I can see how you look at me, too. I know you feel differently about me."

From the look of it, Daryl did not know how to respond. He dropped his gaze to the ground after he looked at her for a few seconds, mind trying to wrap around the fact that Beth told him what she felt and what she had observed from him in their time together.

Daryl glimpsed around the area, then headed in another direction after he saw the footprints divert to the right. "Let's go," he said. "We're close."

Beth ignored the disappointment she felt. It was not like she had expected him to reveal that he really enjoyed being with her too, or admit he saw her in a different way. But she did want Daryl to at least acknowledge that he heard and understood what she meant.

Beth followed Daryl, not paying much attention as she trudged along in her boots behind him. When Daryl rose his crossbow up, she knew that he had spotted something. Beth came to a halt, afraid that her inability to be as quiet as Daryl in the woods would scare off whatever he had found. So instead, she watched from a distance as Daryl placed careful footsteps onto the ground until he stopped. The arrow released from the crossbow, hitting the target. Beth assumed that it was one of the rabbits that they had been tracking, well, the ones that Daryl had been tracking. Beth just kind of tagged along and followed his lead.

Daryl turned back and motioned for her to come over. She did that, only to see that he had hit both rabbits with one arrow, a skill that not many would have been able to master.

And she would admit that it was a bit gruesome to her. She loved animals, and to see two rabbits with an arrow through them was kind of hard. A necessary evil, she assumed. They had to eat. There was no other way around that. And at least Daryl had made the kill quick, unsuspecting to the animals that had been next to each other.

Beth stood by as Daryl collected the animals, pulling out his arrow and ushering her over to him so she could hand over the bag she had on her back to store the rabbits in. She passed the bag over, and Daryl stuffed part of what would be dinner inside.

There was a tension between them.

It was not the easiest to tell if the tension was bad or good, Beth only knew that it was there. Daryl avoided looking at her for the most part, his eyes flickering in her direction as the bag was handed back over to her and Daryl readjusted how he held his crossbow.

"Daryl?"

"Come on, let's head back before the sun goes down," he instructed, not letting her speak, and began to walk back the way they came.

That would not work for Beth.

Even though she strode alongside Daryl, Beth felt unsatisfied. She wanted Daryl to say something to her that was not a way of evading her earlier comment about her liking him. _A lot. _She almost regretted saying anything, fearing that she might have messed up the delicate balance of things between the two of them.

But, then again, that was the point. She wanted more. More from this friendship, this relationship that she had developed with Daryl. And she got the feeling that Daryl wanted the same thing, but was not willing to do anything about it, possibly fearful of what the others might think.

Something took over her in that instance, and Beth would argue later on that some kind of energy entered her body and forced her to act upon her thoughts, her feelings for this man.

Beth grabbed ahold of Daryl's arm to stop him from walking, making Daryl turn around with furrowed brows, about to ask her what the hell she was doing. However, he did not get a chance to speak. She didn't hesitate. Beth got onto her toes, placing one hand onto his cheek, and put her lips onto his, taking advantage of his already parted mouth.

The kiss was better than she expected.

Beth would even go as far as to say that it was magical.

Electric.

An intense fluttering feeling rippled through her instantaneously the second their lips connected. It was wonderful, really. She had never had that sensation before.

She moved her lips, needing to further the kiss. Daryl stood there still as could be for a few beats, his crossbow in his hand at his side. And then, to her surprise, before she was about to pull away in utter embarrassment, she felt his lips move against hers, hesitantly mimicking the motions. Beth took it as an indication to step closer, her other hand wrapping around the base of his neck.

Being that close to him, Beth could smell the scent of pine on his skin. That familiar smell that made her tilt her head the other way and catch his lips again, a shaky breath coming out of her because of the overwhelming feeling she was getting from him kissing her, Daryl's mouth molding against hers in a perfect way.

And as soon as it had started, it was over.

Daryl pushed her away, Beth stumbling back a couple of steps, as did Daryl. She didn't think that she had ever seen someone so shocked before, shocked by Beth's actions and by his own response to the kiss she had initiated. He had this look of mixed emotions in his eyes, those dark blue ones frantically searching her own for an answer.

Words needed to be said, but they were both stunned for a second there.

"Why did you do that?" Daryl demanded in a low voice, the air cold enough that she saw is breath in the air as he spoke.

Beth's mouth fell open but no sound came out initially. Her own mind searched for a clear answer until she came up with, "I wanted to."

"Can't be doin' stuff like that, Beth, you know that."

"No, I don't know that," she argued, ready to fight for what they had. "There's nothin' wrong about it. I know that's what you think and that's not true."

Daryl stared at her without blinking until he turned around and began walking again, this time at a quicker pace, avoiding what she had said to him. However, Beth was not going to be one to be left behind in the dust. She swiftly jogged until she was in front of him, stopping him from moving any further among the trail they had been on.

"Wait, please," she asked, almost in a begging voice. "You kissed me back," she pointed out, well aware of how his lips had felt on her.

"Don't say that."

"It's the truth!"

Daryl pointed his finger at her. "It don't mean anythin'."

"Stop it with the bullshit!" she yelled, frustrated, not afraid of attracting any walkers to their location with her loud voice. "Don't act like it means nothin' to you! I know it means something. All of this! From the very beginning." Beth calmed herself down, taking a step closer to Daryl. "We both know that there is somethin' goin' on between us. I can feel it. And you do too. Don't pretend like I'm crazy for feelin' that."

There was a pause from Daryl, one that was short lived. He took two steps back away from her, judging the distance between them as he went. "I can't do this," he simply said.

Beth panicked, afraid of losing him. "You can," she offered, her voice cracking in the soft tone.

Daryl looked down at the uninteresting ground, shaking his head subtly. "I…I can't."

Beth stayed put this time, not feeling the desire to move her legs to follow Daryl as he walked away from her, essentially walking away from _them_. From where she stood on the path, she felt like she was in physical pain, like her heart had been squeezed, all the emotions rushing around inside of her, making her feel confused and unhappy at the response she had gotten from Daryl.

Beth sniffled, bringing her hands up to take the glove off of one so she could wipe her face, removing the evidence that tears had welled up in her eyes. She wanted to make Daryl see things differently, to let him know that there was no reason to be scared of what was happening between them. But that would be difficult, maybe impossible.

And then, like before, right when she needed it the most, she remembered that she was not afraid of a challenge.

So Beth Greene did the only thing that she knew would help. Metaphorically speaking, she picked herself up and dusted herself off, taking the first initial steps forward in the way that Daryl had gone off in when he left her in the woods.


	12. Chapter 12

Daryl could try and ignore her all he wanted to, but Beth was not going to give up on him. There was no way that she possibly could.

He had been doing this whole ignoring her thing for the past six days where he refused to be in the same room with her alone, and every time that she caught his eyes wandering over to her, he immediately removed them from the area she was in and moved his gaze into another direction.

All that over a kiss.

One freaking kiss.

Needless to say that Beth was annoyed with Daryl. A little hurt, too, by mostly annoyed.

He would barely even acknowledge her presence in a room, which furthered her anxiety and also made her blood boil. _Look at me, damn it_, is what she wanted to yell at him. Of course, she did not. Beth had some control.

What she did not have control over was how she replayed the kiss over and over and over again in her head ever since it had happened in the woods many days ago (which actually felt like it had been an eternity). It was the first thing she thought of when she woke up to the morning sun and then the last thing she thought of before she went to sleep, if she was lucky enough to get in a few hours of rest.

She missed his lips on hers.

That might sound crazy, considering that she had only kissed him once for a few seconds, but she did miss it. She wanted it back again.

Beth wanted Daryl to kiss her for hours on end.

The want to have his lips on hers again, to feel that electricity run through her veins again, was like this burning desire in the depths of her soul that threatened to take over her. It was almost a craving, and that was kind of scary. Kind of dangerous.

Perhaps she didn't mind the dangerous part.

It were as if Daryl was this forbidden fruit that was right there in front of her but was just out of her reach. Entirely dissatisfying.

Beth thought about asking Maggie for help, but she kept the lip lock in the woods a secret for now. Maggie usually had good advice when it came to boys due to her vast experience with them in the past, but Beth doubted the same advice would work in terms of Daryl. He was too different, not like the rest. Daryl had his own set of rules to play by. All Beth needed to do was figure them out.

And that was a mystery in itself.

But now she was on the floor of a small abandoned house they were all staying at as she tried to figure out what to do, how to further the interaction between her and Daryl. She missed him more than she could put words to. Missed talking to him and having him give her little snippets of his life, knowing that he could trust them with her.

Even as she laid on the floor staring at the ceiling with a pillow behind her head, a patterned quilt underneath to soften the flooring, and a warm wool blanket over top of her, sleep was not about to come easily. Sleep like to taunt her these days, letting her slip around the edges of rest before jolting her out of it. It was all because she felt the unbalance between Daryl and her. Her mind was too wound up with mulling over their last interaction and the following absence of Daryl.

Maggie was by her side, turned away from Beth in the opposite direction, already fast asleep. Everyone else was asleep too, except for Carol and Rick who were keeping watch by the front door. Beth almost volunteered to get up and switch places to let one of them sleep instead, but stayed put because everyone had turned into light sleepers since the outbreak and she did not want to disturb anyone by moving across the creaking floorboards of the old house they had been in for three days.

Beth rubbed her eyes, turning onto her side to face the other way so her back was aligned parallel with Maggie's. That was when she saw that Daryl, who was on the opposite side of the room with no one in between them, was on his back with his head turned towards her, arm extended above his head so that the back of his hand was on the pillow behind him.

Her whole body froze up.

Daryl stared intently at her, not moving his eyes, a few pieces of brown hair that went across his forehead falling into his dark blue orbs. Usually by now he would have dropped his gaze and looked in the other direction, but now he did not. He held the eye contact with her.

It captivated her just as it always had.

Beth got more comfortable on her side, pulling the blanket up around her as she gazed back over at him, admittedly admiring him while she could. Part of her wanted to get up and go lay by him, feel what it would be like to fall asleep in Daryl's arms, within the safety and comfort of them. She wanted that. Sadly, that wouldn't be possible. At least not there, not right then. There were too many people around, too many thoughts going on in her head, and too many unspoken words between the two of them.

Yet despite everything, their eyes were still connected.

One could cut the tension between the two of them with a knife.

If she could tell anything, anything at all, Beth saw that Daryl seemed to be conflicted by the look in his eyes. The confliction was about her, she was sure of that.

Beth thought that maybe it was all because he regretted kissing her back in the woods, thought of it was a stupid mistake. He thought that she was too young, that was most obvious. That she was too naïve. _That _was bullshit. But there was another reason that he held back, that added to the internal struggle. The idea crossed her mind that perhaps he was simply afraid of her or the way he felt. It was possible.

Yeah, the lack of communication didn't help Beth at all.

The only thing that Beth thought about was that all she wanted to do was ease the doubt away and out from Daryl's mind. It would make things so much simpler.

And only when Lori suddenly stirred in her sleep did Daryl drop his gaze from Beth's eyes to the ground in front of him, the distance of the floorboards in between them. He turned his head back to face the ceiling, quietly letting out a deep sigh in the process, and put the back of his forearm over his forehead so that his hand dangled off the side, closing his eyes tight.

She wished that she knew what to say in this sort of situation, but her mind drew a blank.

The only thing that Beth did was close her eyes for the first time that night, still snuggled up on her side facing Daryl, hoping that now sleep would come more easily due to how she was mentally drained from overthinking. She decided that whether he liked it or not, she would talk to Daryl in the morning when she had a clear mind from a few hours of sleep.

—

Early morning brought some clarity for her, but only some.

She thought she knew what to say. She doubted it would be said correctly, though.

Beth knew she had to approach Daryl. Knew that it had to be done. No way around it. The issue had to be addressed or Beth was going to explode. She couldn't take the being ignored by him any longer.

This needed to be settled.

She found him outside, of course. Where else would he be? That was the place he went when he was in need of some space out in the quiet. And even as chilly as the air around them might be, it did not seem to bother Daryl as much. It never had, she noted. Daryl looked almost comfortable outside even with the frost of the morning still on the leaves that covered the ground and the looming fog in the distance, the sun peeking over the horizon.

Beth pulled the hood of her winter coat over her head to keep warmer, her hands tying an elastic band around the end of a side braid to keep it together, and then shoved her hands into the pockets of the coat as she watched as she got closer to her destination.

Beth drew in a deep breath as she walked towards Daryl, a weak attempt to calm her nerves. She knew that he must have heard her when she got close, Beth not making any careful steps around the dead leaves on the ground that had turned brown. It would be better if he knew that she was on her way. That way her appearance would not be a surprise.

Daryl must have gotten up earlier that morning because when she got over to him, he had three rabbits in his hand, a lucky catch from a hunt.

She moved her legs forward until she was beside him. Beth turned to face him, only to see that Daryl was still examining the furry brown rabbits, not glancing in her direction. "You're ignoring me," she blatantly said, her voice not happy. Beth turned forward to look out into the surrounding woods. "I don't like it."

"What you want me to do?"

Daryl's voice was always more gruff in the morning, and Beth had to focus or she would get distracted by the husky and deep tone that he used—the voice that gave her shivers.

She huffed, not entirely sure of how to answer that question he asked. "I don't know. Talk to me. Tell me what you're thinkin'."

"I'm thinkin' we all should get movin' soon. Can't stay here another night. We're runnin' low on—"

"I'm not talkin' about that and you know it," she pointed out, interrupting Daryl mid-sentence because she was irritated that he tried to avoid the real subject. "I'm talkin' about us."

When Daryl had no response, Beth let a small laugh that was not genuine at all, in fact, it was more of a pained sound that escaped from her throat. "You are so frustrating," she commented as her hands balled into fists inside her coat pockets.

Beth turned back about to head to the house, trying to tell herself that she should not care about Daryl's lack of talkatively about the kiss the other week. What had she expected? That he would sit down and have a heart-to-heat with her? That wouldn't happen.

Trying to extract information out of Daryl was as hard as pulling teeth.

"Beth?"

She had no other option than to turn around to face him. "What?" she whispered, attempting to hold back a few tears that wanted to spill out her emotions.

And then he stared at her again, just like he had last night when they were on the floor and the others were asleep all around them, Daryl still unsure of what to say to her. It made Beth stop and reassess the situation, the look he gave her freezing her into her place, her feet feeling too heavy for her to move them in any other direction.

"Just say whatever you're thinkin'," she told him, desperate for some type of clue as to what was going on inside his head. Because, really, it was anyone's guess.

Daryl waited too long to give a reply.

So instead of letting Daryl give her an answer, which he may or may not not have, Beth let everything off her chest, the feeling creeping up and overflowing inside of her. She marched towards him, words about to bravely roll off her tongue. "I kissed you, okay? We were in the woods and I kissed you. And then you kissed me back. That wasn't a figment of my imagination or anythin' like that, Daryl. It was _real_ and I felt it. You don't get to ignore me for a week like this. It's not fair."

"I know," he said as soon as she was finished.

"You know what?"

"All that. What you said." He shrugged his shoulders, letting them cave in a bit. "I'm an idiot, okay? I know that. I do the wrong thing all the time. Exactly one of the reasons I ain't good for ya, Beth."

Daryl looked down to the ground, clearly believing in what he had said. He shifted the strap of his crossbow that hung around his chest, adjusting the metal weapon on his back.

"You're not an idiot," she said to him, voice calmer than before, and more rational. "And you _are_ good for me. I wouldn't be here now if you weren't. I get that you don't see that but it's the truth. "

"I don't know what to do 'bout this," he immediately confessed, looking back up at her with earnest eyes, them narrowing because the morning sun was facing him, making it more difficult to see. He then shook his head and repeated, "I don't know."

Beth thought for a moment, trying to figure out what the best course of action would be for this type of situation that they somehow found themselves in. "It's nothin' we can't figure out," she assured him, wanting to reach out and take his hand, but she fought back the urge to do so. Beth readjusted her stance. "What are you afraid of? Is it me?"

"No. Not you. Not exactly."

"Then what?" she asked, her voice quiet as she took a few more steps towards him, hoping to feel more connected as she lifted her head up to look at him. "What is it?"

"Never done this before. I need some time," Daryl finally replied. "To…figure stuff out."

"Time?"

"Yeah, time."

"Okay."

She figured that if that was what he needed, then she should respect that and give him the opportunity to think things through.

And even though she would grant him his request of some time to figure things out about her, about them, she felt the need to sullenly point out the grim fact that, "Just know that time isn't somethin' we have a lot of these days. Not in this world. Time is never guaranteed."

Beth flashed a brief smile and twisted back around as she headed back for the house for a second time, feeling the eyes on her back as she strode across the yard and up to the front door, where she pulled it open and reentered the house full of people who were just now waking up and packing up their things to get ready for another part of their journey.

_I need some time._

She wondered how long that was going to be. With Daryl she never knew, could never be sure.

But, on the bright side, he didn't shut her down completely. He didn't push her away and say that things could not go on. There was relief offered in that knowledge. Beth could understand that he needed to think things through at his own pace. She couldn't be mad or upset about that. All she had to do was wait.

Let him come to her.

_**A/N: I wrote this during a two hour break in between classes and I was constantly paranoid that someone would come up behind me a figure out what I was writing.** **It was scary but I did it anyways!** **I just thought I would share that with you all. Thanks for reading you lovely people!**_


	13. Chapter 13

"I think I'm frozen solid," announced Maggie.

Beth didn't have much energy or the want to turn to her sister's direction where the wind would be blowing onto her more fiercely. Instead, she kept moving forwards. "I lost feeling in my legs ten minutes ago. I don't know if that's good or bad. They're numb but they don't feel cold anymore, so that's not completely horrible."

It had warmed up slightly in the past two weeks, but another cold front moved into Georgia. With it, the front brought harsh winds and chillier weather that kept the group inside another abandoned house, which was more like a rundown shack that they had found in the woods as they kept away from major roads. There would be no way to be able to be outside for too long, not with this weather. It was too cold, one of the coldest winters Beth had ever experienced in her home state.

Beth bent down and collected up another large stick and put into the stack she had in her arms. Her daddy, Maggie, and Beth had all been out collecting some firewood for the night, dusk rapidly approaching, letting them all know that the temperature was going to drop even more once the sun was down over the horizon.

"We'll head back soon," said her father from ahead of the two girls.

Beth let out a long sigh. By now she was sure that her cheeks were a rosy red color along with the tip of her nose that felt like it might break off at any moment. Only then did she turn back to Maggie, bracing for the wind that hit her in the face. "Okay. I agree. I'm frozen solid too."

Maggie groaned as she approached Beth's side, also with an armful of dry sticks. "I miss havin' warm green tea in a mug on a cold day like this," she sighed.

"Me too."

"If I ever find any boxes of green tea somewhere, I'm gonna hoard them and never let them go."

"You are so weird sometimes."

Maggie nudged Beth on the shoulder, unable to swat at her because of the branches she was holding onto.

"What? It's true," Beth mumbled in the opposite direction.

A few minutes later the three of them came across a wide stream that was muddy all along the water's edge, the water freely flowing at a slow and lazy pace. Thick pine trees were lined up around the edge, the smell of them in the crisp winter air.

Their father took the initiative to go first so he could help Maggie and Beth also get across with their bundles of twigs and sticks. He got to the other side with no trouble, motioning for the two of them to follow as he reached out his hands so he could grab onto them once they took the steps to get across that flowing water.

"Come on," Maggie softly encouraged, stepping onto a rock that was in the middle of the stream, a natural pathway to stay dry from the cold water below.

Beth followed behind her sister, trying not to fall into the water and soak part of her jeans when a rock she stepped on wobbled underneath her. She was able to balance herself out, not losing any of the dry sticks, and took another step right behind Maggie and onto another slippery rock.

"You alright back there?"

"I'm good."

"Watch your footing, okay? Some of these rocks are really unstable."

It made Beth remember how the two of them would play in the much smaller stream behind their house in the summertime when they were younger. Shawn used to come with them too, only he would sometimes push Maggie into the water, which would then result in a battle between the two of them. Maggie somehow always ended up getting the advantage, drenching Shawn in water so that he couldn't do the same to Beth.

The pleasant memory made her smile.

But that seemed to be a cycle. As soon as things are good and there was a sprinkle of joy, they get bad.

Horrible.

Awful.

_Horrendous._

And they get that way in the blink of an eye.

One second and everything changed.

Their world turned upside down.

At first, Beth was so focused on not falling into the stream that would make her more cold that she didn't see the walker that crawled on the forest floor that grabbed ahold of her daddy's legs, knocking him to the ground instantly. From where Maggie stood halfway across the stream from him, Beth heard her cry, "No!"

Only then did Beth look up from trying to keep her balance to see the walker sink its teeth into her father's skin on his leg, Beth dropping the sticks into the water below. It was the most horrifying thing she ever laid eyes on.

And as if anything could top that, that was when the noises became audible. A massive amount of groaning walkers came out from the thick treeline, creating a C shape around them, almost encircling Beth and Maggie in the middle of the stream from where they dragged themselves closer with every step.

There was no way to think in that moment. Beth's brain almost shut off out of pure fear and distraught, her eyes not knowing where to look.

Beth stumbled backwards on the shaky and unstable rocks, it being the only way to go as Maggie backed up in front of her, not knowing what to do, both of them with their eyes then locked on their daddy who was being munched on by the walker as he tried to fight it off of him. The other dead flesh eaters got in between them, preventing the two girls from be able to help their father.

There were too many walkers all at once.

Too many.

Beth was so panicked that she took a wrong step and sank down into the water, her foot trapped in between two of the rocks, pain shooting through her as the side of her leg slid against a rock as she fell. Beth desperately tried to yank her ankle out from the trap of the rocks but had no luck, the walkers closing in on them.

She could hear the panic in her voice when she yelled, "I can't get out!"

She looked back up again to see Maggie rush over to her, water splashing everywhere, glancing over to see five more walkers approach their dad.

"Daddy!" Beth yelled, almost in unison with Maggie's scream.

Maggie freed Beth's leg and then grabbed the knife from Beth's side and killed a walker that had gotten too close to them, making its way through the water like the others all now started to do. She then turned back to grab onto Beth's arms and brought her up so they stood knee-deep in the middle of the water together, assessing the impending situation, not even noticing the ice cold feeling of the water.

"Run!" their father told them, panicked look in his eyes because he knew that his daughters would be next on the menu, and that it was too late for him to be saved. "Go! I love you both. Now go!"

For a second, Beth did not see a way out. Her mind was whirling, trying to grasp what was going on around her, the reality of it. All she thought was that she was going to die right there with the rest of her family and she would never get the chance to say goodbye to Daryl.

She thought that this might be it. That she might be devoured by walkers, them all closing in on Maggie and Beth as they heard the painful cries of their father who was on the other side of the stream, being swarmed by walkers. They only had two large knives to protect themselves with and that would not be enough to fight off the herd that had all eyes on Beth and Maggie.

That was when a woman appeared out of nowhere.

Beth had just reached the edge of the stream and jumped up onto the ground when she saw the woman as she ran towards the Beth and Maggie as she sliced walkers in half with a sword as she made her own pathway towards them. Beth only got a brief glimpse of the woman before she grabbed her arm and yanked Beth in the opposite direction, grabbing Maggie along the way to show them the way to go. "Let's move," ordered the woman in a serious voice, making the decision for the Greene sisters.

There was no choice but to go.

And that was heartbreaking.

Beth's mind shut down and rebooted with only the necessary survival instincts.

Neither of the girls looked back, they couldn't bring themselves to do that, the reason being that the noise from their daddy had stopped moments ago and walkers had flocked over to what was surely their father's dead body being devoured.

Both Maggie and Beth ran with the mysterious woman who had helped save them, running as fast as their legs would allow them to go, the herd trailing behind them in order to follow the scent of a living meal. The two sisters were actively trying to choke back the tears that welled in their eyes, desperately attempting to see through the blurry vision as their feet hit the ground repeatedly, dodging between masses of trees.

She was not sure for how long they ran for, Maggie then taking the lead once she had figured out where they were and how to get back to the abandoned house that they had been holding up in.

When they finally arrived back to the house, Beth felt like she was going to collapse onto the ground out of emotional turmoil and physical exhaustion, but she knew that she couldn't do that.

"Rick!" shouted Maggie in a painful voice. She strode towards the house with a few steps, trying to catch her breath. "Rick!"

Dale, who had been on watch on the porch, came down the steps in a hurry and soon as Rick opened up the door to see the three women standing in the front yard that was well overgrown, their faces distraught.

"The hell happened?" he asked, rushing over to them, a gun loaded by his side, just in case.

Maggie frantically shook her head when Rick put two hands on the top of Maggie's arms, and Beth watched as her sister's built up tears spilled over. "He's dead," she told him, her voice higher than normal, voice cracking in between the words. "My dad…he's dead! A walker got to him. Rick, there were so many. We barely made it out. There was nothin' we could do."

Rick stared in disbelief before he let go of Maggie and ran his hand through his hair, equally saddened by the news.

Daryl came out of the house next, overhearing what had happened about the loss of Beth's dad. He also came down the porch steps, passing Maggie and Rick after a quick examination, and stepped towards Beth with a certain urgency to his movements.

There was a sheer look of terror on Daryl's face as his eyes scanned over Beth's bottom half of her leg. "Are you bit?"

Beth glanced down to see the blood coming from her leg from where the rock had scrapped up her skin, opening up a fresh wound, and tearing open her dirty jeans. She shook her head, still in shock from what had happened. "No. Not bit."

"There's a herd comin'. We have to leave," Maggie told Rick, visibly swallowing back a lump in her throat, more tears spilling over her cheeks.

"Who is this?" demanded Rick, looking over at the new woman with a sword behind Maggie. When she only stared back at him with questioning eyes, Rick made it clearer for her. "What's your name?"

After a moment, she replied, "Michonne."

"She saved us," Maggie interrupted any further questioning, knowing that Rick would be skeptical of Michonne.

"She's injured," Rick pointed out, pointing to the blood from a wound on her forearm.

Whatever had happened, it did not seem to bother Michonne too much. "I'll be fine," she assured them. "But not for long if that herd keeps coming this way. They are not too far from here."

Rick's gaze alternated between Maggie and Beth before he agreed, saying, "Alright. We'll get our stuff together." He turned to Dale who stood shocked at the bottom of the house steps. "Get everyone together. We're leavin'. Now." Rick then glanced back over at Michonne to examine her, trying to see if she was trustworthy or not. "You come with me," he told her.

Michonne hesitated at first, seeming as if she did not like being told what to do. However, she obliged and took a few steps forward so that she followed Rick back into the house along with Dale to round everyone else up and collect their items together quickly.

"Glenn!" Maggie yelled for him, seeing Glenn step outside after he had a brief exchange with Rick as he walked in through the front door. Maggie ran over to him and up the porch, collapsing into his arms, Glenn easily comforting her as Maggie relayed the story a second time.

Daryl stood there with Beth in silence as they listened to Maggie's cries from closer to the house. Then it hit Beth like a truck—all the overwhelming emotions flooding her at once. The memory came back, the gruesome view she had gotten.

He was dead.

Her daddy was _dead._

Eaten alive by walkers.

And he had told his daughters to run so that they didn't end up with the same fate.

There was never enough time with people. Not enough. Time was not a luxury in this world they now lived in, survived in, tried to stay safe in.

Beth's face twisted up in pure sadness as she took four steps forward and crashed herself against Daryl, her arms thrown around his mid-section, burying her face into the material of his worn plaid shirt. It might have been the only thing in the world that would have made her feel better.

"It was so awful," Beth choked out, sobs coming from her heaving chest.

Daryl didn't say anything. He didn't have to. All he did was hold her as she cried into his chest, his hands pressing onto her back after a few seconds of them dangling at his sides.

And that was enough.

It was just what she needed in that moment—someone to hold her tight as the emotions seeped out.

_**A/N: I'm not gonna lie, this was painful to write. It was like losing Hershel all over again. But it was necessary for the story (so please don't hate me for killing him). Now I need to go watch Still and Alone again to cheer myself up. See you all next update!**_


	14. Chapter 14

They had a funeral once they were done running and found another abandoned house. Another place that was empty with no feeling of warmth to it. Everyone stared at the pile of smooth rocks with a wooden cross at the head of them, their makeshift memorial. It tore through the Greene sisters. Beth didn't talk. Neither did Maggie. The wound of losing their daddy was still fresh, still open, and still hurting them deeply.

Beth thought again about how there was never enough time. One could think that they could have more time, and then they don't. It would be ripped away in the blink of an eye, leaving a wake of devastation.

Beth didn't quite hear what Rick said as they were all gathered together in a semi-circle. She didn't hear what Carol said, or what Lori chipped in with during their small service. Words went in one ear and then out the other, them all seeming to have no meaning as Beth looked on at the cross that was meant for her daddy.

She thought that she was numb at that point. She had cried so much that there were no more tears left in her system for her to cry out again. She was a blank face, a sad facade of a person as she stood next to Maggie as the funeral concluded, Maggie reaching for Beth's hand.

Later, Beth had gone off on her own again, not wanting to talk to anyone or see the look of sorrow on anyone's face. Having to see Maggie's own heartbroken expression was enough for Beth to deal with. The mood among the group was already mournful and despondent. Beth didn't need any reminders of how sad she felt or how sad the whole situation was.

The place they were going to be staying in for the night was an old, sort of run-down Bed and Breakfast type of shelter in the back woods, one with a dull red colored siding and a wooden porch that had moss covering areas of it, plants growing in between the cracks, and wild green wines growing up the side of the place.

Beth sat out on the porch in the quiet evening hours, the sun gone down, and the light of the full moon shining down to illuminate the property. Beth sat on the edge of the porch by the front steps, her feet planted on the first step of the top, her head rested onto the wooden beam that supported the porch overhead.

She did not how long she had been out there for, and also had no idea about what was going on inside, or even what the plan was for tomorrow. Not much mattered to her at that point in time. She grieved more than anything. There was not much room for anything else in her mind other that.

When Beth heard the front door swing open and close shut, she did not turn around to see who it was coming outside. However, she could tell by the sound of the boots against the porch that it was the only person she would want to see other than her sister right about then. The only one who she would not mind being with her.

Daryl sat down next to her, his boots clunking down onto the steps as he took the spot, his crossbow laid onto the porch right beside him. He told her, "Hershel was a good man."

Beth brought her head away from the beam and leaned in so that her head was then rested onto Daryl's strong shoulder. "Thank you for saying that."

"It's the truth," he pursued. "He didn't deserve to die. Not like that."

She agreed with that. "I know. No one deserves to die like that. Ever."

The both of them are quiet for a while, Daryl staying there with her, letting her keep her head on his shoulder as she looked out at the trees.

"Daryl?"

"Hmm?"

"It hurts," she whispered. "Everythin' inside of me hurts."

"I know it does. I wish you didn't have to feel this way. Wish he was still here."

Beth let out a deep sigh, readjusting how she sat so she was closer to Daryl, head still on his shoulder. Suddenly, she thought about something that she did not know about Daryl. "You've never talked about your parents," she let him know, hoping that maybe he would share.

Daryl was quiet for a moment, not moving, and she thought that possibly he had stopped breathing due to her not being able to see how his chest would rise and fall anymore.

"Ain't much to say," he finally told her with a groan.

"No?"

"Listen, my mom died when I was young. She'd smoke a lot, y'know? One night she fell asleep with a cigarette and lit the place up. Mattress caught on fire and she burned down with the house."

Beth was deeply saddened by the story of Daryl's mom. She couldn't believe that the person who had brought Daryl into the world had left it in such a horrible way.

"I'm sorry."

It was all she could think to say.

To her surprise, Daryl chuckled. "Don't be. It ain't your fault. Happened a long time ago."

"She didn't wake up when the bed caught on fire?" Beth questioned. She could hardly fathom the thought of not coming to the realization that the mattress was on fire. Beth was the first one to admit that not the greatest in biology class, but she was sure that she learned about how the body's reflexes would alert someone if there was fire near them that would put their life in danger.

"Too drunk to notice, I guess. That's what happens when you drink a whole bottle of wine and whiskey on the side. You don't realize it when you put yourself into an oven. You just burn to a crisp. Nothin' left of ya. And that's how it ends."

The way Daryl said it made Beth realize that the memory must still haunt Daryl so some extent, even after all these years like he had said.

"And your dad?"

Daryl shifted around uncomfortably and it did not go unnoticed by Beth. "You don't want to know 'bout him. He was an asshole to everyone. A real mean drunk, too. Had a stroke ten years ago. And you know what? I was damn happy to hear that he was dead."

The words sunk in as Daryl said them. She had this imagine of Daryl in her head of him growing up somewhere in the country with his older brother in a house somewhere in the woods. Yet, she had never factored in the possibility that there had been a bad relationship between Daryl and his father. Daryl said that he had been happy when his dad died. No one said that without good reason to. It almost made her sick to think about what had gone down in that house when Daryl was young.

She wanted to know more but she knew better than to ask something that Daryl should tell her himself, without being questioned.

"It's weird to not have a parent anymore." She choked on the words a little bit, but luckily she regained her composure. "Now it's just Maggie and me left. I didn't think that would happen for a long, long time."

"At least you got a sibling who is there for you. Maggie will always be there when you need her to be."

Beth cringed at the first part of his sentence. "Do you miss your brother?"

Again, Daryl was silent momentarily. "Don't know how to feel 'bout Merle bein' gone. We wasn't like how you and Maggie are. Merle and I were never equals."

"Equals? What do you mean by that?" Daryl sighed, which caused Beth to think that she went too far with her inquiry. "Nevermind. You don't have to answer that. I ask too many questions."

"Do ya really want to know?"

Beth picked up her head to look at him. She slowly nodded as a response.

Daryl took his knife out of its place attached to his belt and drove it into the porch wood. "Merle was always top dog. I followed his lead, did what he said even when I knew I didn't want to. That's how much of an idiot I was. Could never get the balls to say no to him. Fucking pathetic, ain't it?"

Beth shook her head, a hand placing itself onto Daryl's bare arm, feeling the muscles underneath. "S'not pathetic," she whispered to him in a quiet voice.

Daryl remained unconvinced. "It was. I know it. Don't need to pretend like it wasn't." To change the subject, Daryl examined Beth and her puffy eyes that had been rubbed at all day. "You should get some sleep," he offered. "You need it."

"Can't. I'm afraid of the nightmares I know are gonna be there in my sleep."

"Anythin' I can do?"

She thought about it until she felt like she acquired the nerve to ask for what she really wanted. There was no reason to hide it anymore. "Will you stay with me while I try and sleep tonight? Just for tonight, I swear." Beth rubbed her eyes again, only making them hurt. After a brief second of consideration, she added in a murmur, "I know that's a lot to ask for since we're kind of in a weird place, but I think the only way I can sleep is if you're there with me. Because I feel safe with you."

He hesitated for only a fraction of second. "I'll stay. Whatever you need."

They exchanged a glance, one that made Beth realize something important. The look in Daryl's made it clear that he wanted to take her pain away entirely, that he would do whatever it took for the hurt to stop, if he could. If that was something that was even remotely possible. She appreciated that more than anything.

Only then did Beth have the strength to get up and walk inside with Daryl following behind her silently. Luckily, most everyone was in their own room and there were no eyes on them, that probably made Daryl feel relieved that he would not need to explain where he was headed with Beth, not that Beth thought anyone would question it anyways.

She turned around once to make sure that Daryl was still there, just to make sure that he was not going to back out at the last second, and he was there, treading on the floor lightly.

Once inside the room that Beth had put her stuff in, she slid off her boots until they hit the floor with a thud. She made her way over to the bed and pulled back the covers, adjusting the pillow for her head. She noticed that Daryl had not followed her and stood near the door.

"What are you doin' over there?"

He shrugged and set his crossbow up against the wall by the door, then leaned himself against it. "You said to stay, I'm stayin'."

"Don't make this awkward for yourself, Daryl. I need you here, but not in the watch me from far over there kind of way," she quietly requested. Beth hoped that she was being clear about it. She patted the bed behind her. "Please, get over here. I can't have you standing over there all night."

She slid her body down onto the bed, Daryl pausing at the closed door before walking around to the other side and getting on top of the covers so that there was some form of distance between them. Beth then snuggled up onto her side so that she faced him, pulling the blanket up and over her shoulders, the mattress molding against her frame. Daryl had been right, she did need the rest. Her body ached for sleep, her muscles already relaxing and her eyes drifting shut.

"Thank you for being here." That was the last thing she spoke about before she finally fell into a deep sleep with Daryl next to her.

**A/N: I was inspired to write another porch scene because I am absolutely in love with the one from **_**Still**_**. It acted as such a catharsis for the characters, mainly Daryl, but I thought I would incorporate something similar into this story. I hope you enjoyed it!**


	15. Chapter 15

Things drastically change.

Maggie and Beth leaned on each other to get through the death of their father, which was hard, but was more manageable with each passing day. At first they had been so distraught by what had happened that they barely spoke to anyone, opting to mourn in silence, choosing only to exchange words about their loss with each other on occasion.

But at least they had each other.

Slowly, they brought themselves out of mourning, away from the grief. Beth realized one day that her daddy would not want them to be sad. He would want his daughters to keep living and try to be the happiest that they could.

And like she said, it got better as the days went forth and the pain became less and less. Maggie and Beth accepted what happened back at the stream when the herd of walkers attacked. Their daddy was in heaven now with the rest of the people that they had lost, looking down on them and watching over them. At least that was what Beth chose to believe in.

Warmer weather was approaching. Beth theorized that it was about in the middle of March, the small buds on the trees signaling that spring was coming early.

Things also change in another way. One day Daryl was the same as usual, the two of them had resumed a normal comfort level with each other, and then the next day he came up to her and kissed her as she was checking around the perimeter of where the group was staying.

Kissed her.

Just like that.

Reached for her right out of the blue.

She hadn't expected it to happen like that because it seemed unlike Daryl to jump into something like that so suddenly with a clear motivation behind the actions. At first, she was too shocked to move as her brain tried to make sense out of what was happening. Daryl's warm lips worked against her, and then she finally gave in and did the same, after having waited for that very moment to happen for months.

"I'm tired of fightin' it," he said, abruptly pulling away. "I want to. I can't. Can't do it no more."

Beth was almost in a daze as he spoke, trying to grasp what he said to her. Then she let a smile widen across her face as the happiness sunk in, something that had not happened for her in the previous months of winter. "Finally," she breathed out, placing a hand that was covered by a white fuzzy glove onto Daryl's cheek. "What changed?"

There was a short sigh of what seemed to be relief that came from Daryl after she finished her question. To her, it confirmed that Daryl had been conflicted about the two of them for months, and was now finally ending the debate that rattled back and forth inside his head. The majority of him was ready to give in, to give it all a chance, just like Beth was willing to do.

"You were right. Ain't never enough time with people in this world."

Beth got to her toes and she kissed him again, Daryl responding for a few seconds before he pulled away again, leaving her feeling unsatisfied by the quickness of the second kiss.

He let out a different kind of sigh, a stern one filled with built up worry and anxiety, possibly even some dread. "Your sister will be pissed at me," Daryl said as he looked down at his muddy boots. "Maggie is gonna kill me. She ain't gonna like this."

Daryl seemed deeply troubled by what he believed.

"She won't," explained Beth as she blinked up at him "We've been talkin' about you for a while. Months, actually. Ever since the farm. She knows how I feel already."

Daryl's eyebrows rose up on his forehead. "Months?"

Beth shyly looked down at the ground. "Yes," she admitted. "Honestly, she knew there was somethin' about you that I liked ever since we were back at the farm, especially after you were shot and she found me in your room. That's when she told me that she knew I felt different about you. So, a while ago Maggie told me to keep her in the loop. She wants to know. I promise she won't hunt you down with Michonne's sword or anything like that."

Daryl didn't look as if he believed her. "You promise? That's takin' a risk."

"It's not. She'll be happy."

"But, your daddy—"

It was a wound still, the thought of him. But she knew how her dad thought about Daryl. "He knew you were a good man. He knew that you did what was right and what was best for the group. If he were here…I think he would be happy too."

And because Beth was too happy to contain herself, she brushed her lips against Daryl's once more, giving him a brief peck of affection.

Unexpectedly, a twig snapped to the side of them, and that prompted Daryl to take a step back from Beth, reaching for the crossbow that was on his back. Beth's eyes then fell onto Michonne, who stood not too far from them, clearly having seen that Daryl and Beth had been in a more intimate position, their lips connected.

"What do you want?" Daryl gruffly snapped at her.

Beth almost flinched by the nature of his tone. She knew it had to be because now Michonne knew about the two of them, and Beth was aware that Daryl probably wanted to keep this between the two of them for a little while until they both adjusted. Well, until Daryl adjusted to the whole idea of the two of them.

As always, the harsh tone that Daryl had used did not faze Michonne one bit. None of her facial features changed, she didn't even raise an eyebrow at him. She only replied with, "Rick's about ready to leave. Are you still coming with us to search out the eastern territory?"

Daryl briefly looked back in Beth's direction, suddenly unaware of what he should do, knowing that he had been caught with Beth. She shot him a smile, a reassurance, and it looked like it helped out a little bit. He remained looking annoyed that Michonne had seen, but both Daryl and Beth knew that she would not say anything to anyone. Michonne was also someone who kept secrets, and not just her own.

"Talk later," she whispered to Daryl. "I'm gonna head back and pack up some things."

He nodded and sauntered off towards Michonne, who was already walking away from them. Michonne had turned out to be a good ally for them all. She was skilled with a sword, which was absolutely stunning to Beth. The blade of Michonne's sword was always at the ready, waiting for a walker kill.

Beth thought that Michonne was a nice person, a good one. Michonne was a lot like Daryl in the way that she was reserved, not willing to give up much personal information about herself at first. She was a fighter, a survivor, one who trusted her gut instinct over everything else. Maybe the reason Beth knew she could fully trust Michonne, even if a few of the group members were still a bit wary of her, was not only because she helped save her and Maggie's lives, but also because her nature was similar to Daryl's.

Beth quickly walked back to the abandoned barn that the group had been held up in for the past few days, and her mind wandered over to Daryl and what he had said to her about not being able to fight it anymore, fight back his feelings. It was one of the best phrases that she had heard in a long time, especially following the long period where she had a sadness looming over her heart due to her daddy's death about three months ago, if Beth had kept track of the days correctly.

—

"You seem really happy," observed Andrea, sitting down next to Beth on a pile of hay in the barn that was off to the corner, Beth having been writing in the journal that Daryl had given to her weeks ago.

She smiled again since Andrea was right. She felt _truly _happy. "I am."

"Because…?"

Beth wanted to tell the reason to Andrea, who was a good friend to her, but knew that Daryl would be opposed to it. "It's nothin', really. Just happy."

"Does this have anything to do with Daryl?"

Beth immediately looked over at Andrea, astonished that she had guessed correctly. "Why would you think that?"

Now it was Andrea's turn to grin. "Well, for starters, you stare at him like your eyes are programmed to be on him," she began, making Beth blush a bit. She had tried not to be too obvious. "And he seems different lately. Not as grumpy. I figure the only person around here that would have that effect on him was you."

"Are you gonna say anythin'?" She didn't want to upset the new and shaky balance of what was going on with Daryl.

Andrea let out a small laugh. "And end up with an arrow sticking out the side of my head? No thanks."

"He wouldn't do that," Beth said, even though she knew that Andrea was not serious about Daryl shooting her with his crossbow.

"Besides," Andrea sighed as she got up to dust of the hay that got stuck to her jeans. "I like the newer Daryl much better than the volatile and closed off one I met back near Atlanta. The change is refreshing. It's a good look on him. And above all that, it's really none of my business to interfere."

Beth smiled up in return at Andrea before she walked off.

—

Beth had grown tired of waiting around for the trio to get back because it had been hours. She had paced back and forth in the barn while helping to watch over Lori, who was very pregnant at this point. Beth prayed, admittedly something she had not done in a while, that they would find a safe place for her to give birth in. Child birth was scary enough from what Beth could tell, she couldn't imagine the fear that Lori must have knowing that they were constantly on the run and that they had no doctor, no medical training, and no equipment. The only thing that calmed Beth was knowing that women had been giving birth for thousands of years before now even without the modern technology.

"I'm gonna go get some fresh air," Beth let Lori know as she went by her.

"You have your knife?" she asked in reply.

Beth turned and patted her side where the knife was securely in place. Daryl had told her to not let it out of her sight and that she should have it on her at all times. And Beth was not about to argue with that. "Yes. Got it right here."

Lori nodded, but Beth could see the concern in her eyes. "Okay. Don't go too far. Keep your eyes peeled for walkers. And take a jacket with you in case it's windy. I don't want you to get a cold. Carl already has a runny nose and is sneezing like there's no tomorrow."

Beth thought it was really nice that no matter who it was, Lori always had this instinctive motherly nature about her. It was something that Beth really admired about Lori.

Beth grabbed a jacket to appease a watchful Lori and opened up the barn doors, noticing that Andrea, Dale, and Carol were talking with each other right outside. She turned and went the opposite direction so that she strolled into the edge of the woods. Beth did not go far, knowing that would not be a smart decision. The dead could too easily come out of nowhere and swarm an area, and Beth had too much experience with that. She knew better, so she stuck close by, wandering around for no particular reason.

It was not long before she heard light footsteps behind her. Beth's ears were instantly alerted to the presence of something else and she grabbed her knife out from her side in one swift motion and turned around to face what she believed to be a walker coming towards her at a fast pace.

Only it wasn't walker. It was Daryl.

She was relieved and let out a breath that she had sucked in. "Just me," he announced.

Beth put her knife back into its rightful spot. "You always sneak up on me. I could have stabbed your eye out."

He snorted. "I doubt that."

"Do you?" she bravely challenged.

"Maybe."

Beth huffed and jokingly began to walk in the other direction, Daryl following her, grabbing her elbow to turn her around so that she stopped. "Come on, Greene, we both know you can kick ass. You think I never noticed Andrea showin' you how to use a gun better, or you askin' Michonne for some tips on defensive moves?"

It made Beth's face light up. "_You_ need to teach me. I would like that better."

"Would you?"

"Yes."

Daryl adjusted the strap of his crossbow, sizing Beth up as he did. "I'll consider it."

Beth did her best to pout and look saddened by his response. "Just say yes, Daryl. Things would be much easier that way."

Daryl leaned in slightly and repeated in a more low and whispered tone, "I'll think 'bout it."

He probably did that just to annoy her, to push her buttons. And the thing was that Beth didn't even blink an eye. She liked that he was messing with her, not allowing her to fully get what she wanted from him, which was a few lessons on survival stuff. The kind of stuff that Beth knew nothing about, making Daryl the perfect person to teach her.

He could teach her a lot of things, but she won't let her mind go _there_.

Not yet.

It was too soon for that.

"How did it go today?"

"We found a prison," he told her.

"A _prison_?"

Daryl smirked at who ironic it all was. "Yeah. Looks secure. Rick thinks we can make it into a place to stay. Double fences line the whole thing. Ain't nothin' getting past them."

"Meant to keep people in," she remarked.

"Now it's to keep walkers out," he retorted. "Just gotta get rid of the walkers who were prisoners on the inside first. They're all walkin' around in the courtyard . Probably a bunch locked inside too."

Beth thought about the idea of living in a prison for a second. It didn't seem like the worst idea in the world, especially considering the living conditions they all had dealt with in the past months during the autumn and winter. From what Daryl had said, it seemed like the prison would be a secure enough place for them to stay.

A safe place, just like Rick had said.

Suddenly, Beth's focus shifted to what the task would be to be sure that they could live at the prison. "Sounds kinda dangerous goin' in there to get rid of all the walkers."

Daryl reassured her by saying, "It'll be fine. And everyone will be safe. No more of this on the run, gettin' out quick when walkers show up. Everyone's tired of that shit. If it works we'll be able to sleep knowin' there ain't any flesh eaters next door, y'know?"

Beth nodded her head, liking the prospective that the prison offered them. "_You'll _be safe, right? When you go in there?"

Daryl hesitated, then to her surprise, leaned in and kissed her gently. Beth wrapped her arms around him so that he would not be able to pull away easily like he had before. And it didn't seem like he wanted to move away from her either. Daryl took a few steps as he held onto Beth, adjusting the crossbow again.

Beth smiled to herself when Daryl's lips traveled from her own, to her cheek, to her jaw, and then to her neck, where he sucked hard on the skin, surely giving her a mark. Perhaps he knew exactly what he was doing, knew that he was leaving his mark on her.

"I'll be safe," he murmured against her skin. "I'll make sure your safe, too."

She grabbed his hair and yanked his head back up to hers, Beth kissing him with a new energy that flowed through her. She encouraged him to keep going, to not be afraid of doing what he wanted with her.

Daryl's hands were cold when they made contact with the skin on her lean side when he inadvertently pushed up her shirt a few inches when he put his hands there. She gasped into his mouth as his cold fingers spread out onto her flesh. He got the wrong message though, thinking that he did something wrong. Daryl immediately pulled away from her, retracting his hands, and frantically said, "Sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

She caught his lips again. "That wasn't me saying I don't like it," she explained, taking his hands into hers. "Your hands are just freezing!"

"Oh," he laughed. "I thought that…I went too far."

"No, I like it when your hands are on me."

She almost did not believe that she said it. Beth's eyes widened at the words she had revealed to Daryl. She nervously laughed at it, not sure how to talk her way out of her previous statement. Luckily for her, Daryl found it to be amusing.

His husky voice seemed to drop even more, if that could even be possible, when he murmured, "Really?"

Beth tried to drop her head to hide the blush that crept onto her cheeks and reddened them but Daryl had this sweet side to him that came through when he lifted her chin up and kissed her again, this time lightly and soft.

"Will everythin' be okay?"

She wanted the answer, wanted Daryl's honest opinion.

"I think everythin' will be good. We move tomorrow at first light. Get in, kill the walkers, and get everyone else in. Then the next day we'll work on the inside."

He sounded sure of himself, confident. Beth didn't know if he was putting up a front to make it seem like there was no real danger that they were going into, but right then, Beth decided that she would believe him and would not question any further all because she wanted to forget about tomorrow and continue to kiss Daryl instead.

_**A/N: I honestly thought that I would be done with this story by chapter fifteen but there is still a lot more that I need to write for this particular story. It just goes to show that a story can take you in a different direction than you planned for. See you next time! **_


	16. Chapter 16

Beth was woken up by Maggie nudging her arm. Beth stirred in her sleep, the hay rustling around her as she brought her body up so that she sat upward, pushing the blanket she had used last night off of her. In her opinion, it was too early for her to be up, for anyone to be up in general. The light of morning was gradually rising over the horizon, illuminating the barn through the cracks in the wood panels of the structure.

Beth rubbed her eyes once she got all the way up off of the makeshift bedding that had been created for sleep. Unfortunately, she had not gotten a lot of rest that night due to her constant tossing and turning because the hay was not the most comfortable thing to sleep on when it would poke her if she turned the wrong way. Despite that, all she wanted to do was curl back up into a ball but she knew that they were headed for the prison that day.

Beth got up so slow that she probably looked like one of the dead. She grabbed up the bag that she had packed the night before and also shoved in the blanket into the backpack, throwing it over her shoulders. "If I fall over because I'm so tired just pick me back up," she sleepily joked to Maggie.

"I'll just drag you the rest of the way, how's that?" she answered through a yawn.

Beth shrugged her shoulder. "That'll do."

Maggie let out a tired chuckle. "It's not that far to the prison," she said. "Sleep or no sleep, we'll survive the hike there."

Glenn came over to meet them as Maggie finished up with her encouragement. Glenn, who was apparently a morning person, unlike both of the Greene sisters. He was too chipper in the morning, too ready for the day's adventure. "Michonne said the prison is only about two miles from here," he offered up, smiling wide at the information with bright and awake eyes.

"Two miles too many," Beth grumbled, the lack of sleep really hitting her hard, her muscles sore.

Maggie sighed, slinging a bag and a rifle over her shoulder. "I would kill for some coffee right about now."

Everyone embarked on the hike to the prison minutes later. Beth walked beside Maggie and Glenn as she would casually look behind to make sure that Lori was doing okay. Walking with the extra weight of her rounded stomach must be hard enough, then add on a hike through the woods having to step over sharp rocks and fallen branches. The rugged terrain didn't make it any easier on Lori.

Beth silently prayed again that the prison would be a good place for them and a place that Lori would be able to give birth.

The hike to the area the prison was in was not as bad as it had initially been once Beth had woken up all the way. They continued for the two miles without any sight of a walker, or any other living being.

"This way," instructed Daryl, showing the group the direction to go in.

They all came to a clearing once they stepped out of the woods, a huge prison with double fences with barbed wires at the top lining the perimeter, guard towers standing tall. It took Beth a few blinks to take it all in. She had never envisioned what living in a prison would be like, but she guessed that she would know soon enough.

"You really think it's safe, Dad?" asked Carl from Lori's side.

"I think it's the best chance we've got."

Beth threw Daryl a cautious glance as she knew what was coming next. Daryl would be one of those who went into the courtyard filled with countless walkers, into the fighting ring. He gave her a subtle nod that Beth was just able to catch. It was his way of letting her know that things would be good and that this was the right decision.

It had to be.

Beth drew in a breath. "When do we go in?"

"Right now," replied Rick, moving towards the first gate.

They all followed him and Daryl, clearly the leaders who were orchestrating the claiming of the prison. Claiming it from the dead, and claiming it as their own.

What would their home and their sanctuary.

Beth glimpsed around and caught the nervous expression on several of the group members faces, telling her that she was not alone in feeling anxious about the mad dash that they were all about to make. She sucked in a sharp breath of air into her lungs when the first gate opened quickly, and then they all broke into a run along the perimeter as they followed Daryl and Rick.

Beth watched as Daryl took out a walker that had been roaming around on the inside fence and it fell to the ground in a heap of its own limbs. She kept moving swiftly to keep up with the others with Maggie and Andrea by her side, adjusting the bag she had on her back so it did not slide off as her legs pushed her faster.

As they got closer to the part of the second fence they needed to enter through to avoid the most walkers, Beth felt the fear tug at her heart. There were a lot of walkers on the inside. However, it looked manageable as long as they stayed spread out. Only when they came to a stop and Rick opened up another part of the gate did Beth stop breathing. Her nerves jolted inside of her.

They all knew the plan. They all knew who was going to go in and who would stay back.

Beth had been told to stay behind with Lori, Carl, and Carol. That was, until her sister spoke up and opened up Beth's hand to put a large knife into it, surprising her when the cool temperature of the weapon was placed into her palm. "You have to come with us," Maggie announced, turning to Beth to give her a reassuring look.

Daryl whipped his attention over to them. "What? That ain't the plan," he growled, alarmed by the sudden change.

"It is now," Maggie snapped back.

"No. She can't be goin' in there, she'll—"

"She can take care of herself," Maggie quickly retorted as she cut off Daryl before he could say anything more. "She's a big girl. Beth can handle it."

"Maggie's right," Andrea chipped in, siding with Maggie on the matter. "We've been practicing. She'll be fine in there."

Daryl's jaw set, not liking how what he was trying to get across to them all was being brought down by what Andrea and Maggie were arguing—the opposite of what Daryl wanted. A quick glance in her direction and Beth finally got a full view of what was going on inside Daryl's head. He was scared. He didn't want Beth to go in a yard full of walkers not because he thought she couldn't handle it, but because he knew that in there he couldn't give her his full attention to be able to protect her if necessary.

If she had the time to really think about it, Beth would have thought that was very sweet of him. But like every other day, time was never on their side.

"This is not a time to argue. We'll need the help in there. Beth, are you up for it?" asked Rick, who was trying to assess the situation given to him.

She paused before she nodded, grasping the knife and dropping her bag to the ground. "Yes."

Her voice was clam when she said it, unwavering. Beth was determined to prove to herself that she could handle this. Of course in the back of her mind she knew that this was going to be hard and she would need to be on high alert at all times. This was not a game. It was life. She would have to pay attention or she'd end up in a grave too soon.

"Fine," Daryl muttered, getting his crossbow ready, probably realizing that an outburst would lead to suspicions by other group members as to why he seemed to be so protective of Beth. "Let's go."

—

It was quiet, the tree frogs making noise from the distance, the crackling of the fire in front of her as Beth sat on the grass as the night turned the sky dark. They had cleared out the courtyard and outer perimeter in good time. Michonne had been the most impressive and productive as she sliced through walkers like it was her job to do it. Maggie and Beth worked as a team to kill as many of the dead that they could, and everyone came out of the ordeal bite-free. Yeah, there was blood on them, but they could deal with it. They had their lives. That was more than they could ask for.

Best of all, Beth was proud of herself. Nothing would be able to take that from her.

Now she wished that her daddy was here to see this, to see all of them around the fire together, protected from the outside. It would have been nice for him to be here. They were safe for now, they found that safe place. A prison. Who would have thought? Of course, it wouldn't feel like anything they were used to, but it was something.

A flicker of hope.

An opportunity for the taking. And they all took it.

At dawn tomorrow they would venture inside the prison to see what it offered up and attempt to clear it out of any remaining walkers, which there was sure to be a lot of considering that prisons were generally filled with prisoners and dealt with overcrowding. But that would not be until the morning. Everyone was going to take the time to unwind from the day and worry about the morning when it arrived.

Beth caught Daryl's gaze from the other side of the fire and got up from the ground, pulling her light jacket on all the way. Maggie grabbed her hand in the process and asked, "Where are headed off to?"

"Relax. I'm gonna go for a short walk. I want to look around."

"Okay. Don't go too far. Promise?"

Beth acknowledged the sisterly concern by nodding her head before she shot Daryl another look as she stepped past him, hoping that he would get the message to follow her.

Beth wandered around in the grass and examined the exterior of the prison for a few minutes until she was out of sight from the rest of the group, but just barely. To be honest, she was not too fond of the idea of straying too far, but knew she needed a place where she would not be seen if and when Daryl came and found her.

She noted while she lingered around that a couple of walkers had plastered themselves against the outer fence, the low sound of growling easily heard from where she stood facing them. But there was an ease that came with knowing there was no way for the walkers to get to her. The chain linked barrier between them did the job it was meant to do. It offered up security and peace of mind. All of them would be able to sleep tonight knowing that walkers would not sneak up out of nowhere and force them to flee in a hurry.

"Beth."

She was startled by her name being said by the familiar husky voice. Again. He was almost as bad as a walker. Daryl had this awful habit being able to silently sneak up on her, giving her absolutely no warning that he was approaching. She was beginning to think that he did it on purpose.

She turned around to see Daryl while she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear since it had fallen loose from the ponytail. "Stop doin' that," she playfully grumbled. "You're gonna give me a heart attack one day."

"I don't think it works that way," Daryl pointed out, putting his crossbow over his shoulder so it was lined up on his back. "You shouldn't be out here by yourself."

"I'm not here by myself anymore." She took a few steps so that she was closer to Daryl, feeling much better that he was with her and it was just the two of them around. "I've got big, strong Daryl Dixon by my side. What could possibly happen?"

He half smirked at her, then noticed something. Daryl reached up and with his fingers, and he wiped off her cheek with the slow strokes of his rough thumb. She shut her eyes momentarily as he did, enjoying the feeling. The look of Daryl's face when she opened them showed that he had not expected to do that, and that him wiping her face had been him acting on an instinct, something not thought through.

"Uh, sorry," he said, awkwardly dropping his gaze and his hand. "You had blood on ya."

Beth smiled at him. "Daryl," she coaxed until he glanced up at her. "You can do somethin' like that and not be embarrassed by it. I like it, okay?"

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

There was laughter coming from around the corner where everyone was settled in by the fire, Daryl throwing a glimpse back that way. "We should get back. People will wonder where we went," he commented about their absence.

"Would it be bad if they knew about us?" Beth abruptly questioned, then immediately regretted the words. She knew better than to rock the ship too hard. Do that and it will be up capsized.

She disliked that she felt the need to walk around on eggshells with Daryl—one wrong move and he might push her away.

"Ain't that it would be bad, Beth. I swear it ain't that. It's just that…I don't know. Forget I said anythin'."

She reached for his hand. "You can tell me."

Daryl glimpsed down at their interlocked fingers for second before he returned the light squeeze on the back of her hand that she had given him a second ago. For a brief moment, Beth realized that Daryl needed guidance when it came to this sort of stuff, that was why it was important for her to take the initiative first, and then he could figure out what to do.

Daryl adjusted the crossbow on his back with his free hand. "I don't want 'em to judge me," he finally revealed, rolling his eyes in a way that told Beth that he thought that the whole idea was idiotic of him, yet he was adamant about not wanting to feel any judgment. "You're too good for me. I know that. They will know that."

Beth sighed, somewhat in relief. She had expected something more than that. "They are your family, Daryl," she said, keeping her voice even-toned. Beth took a step closer. "_Our _family. They aren't gonna judge you. They'll be happy. But if you don't feel comfortable with them knowin' yet, then we can wait. I don't have a problem with that. We can figure it all out."

He seemed relieved after that, like he had been waiting for her to ease the thoughts that roamed around in the back of his mind.

"We should head back over," she started, repeating what Daryl had said to her earlier. "The others might get worried. Maggie won't. My guess is she noticed you come over the way I went."

"Does she know about…"

He trailed off and didn't finish, so Beth did it for him. "Us? I think she does. I didn't say anything to her before, not about the second kiss. But she's Maggie. I bet she knows. She knows everything. She just won't say anything until I do."

Beth specifically left out the part about what Andrea said to her back at the barn, about how she suspected that something had happened between her and Daryl. Beth was in no position to overwhelmed Daryl, nor did she want to.

"You think she'd tell Glenn?" he asked, not sounding too worried about it, but also not sounding too pleased by the thought of yet another person knowing their secret.

Beth had to think about that. She scratched the top of her head while she contemplated it. "I'm not sure. I don't think so, but I can find out if you want me to," she offered. "I could tell Maggie not to spill the beans about us to Glenn."

Daryl shook his head. "Ain't necessary. Better off just leavin' it be."

There was a lapse in conversation and Beth took the opportunity to get onto her toes that were protected by her boots and stole a kiss from an unsuspecting Daryl. His lips were warmer than she remembered, hers shaping against his. She also felt the warmth that was emitted from his body when she stepped even closer. He kissed her back with the same slow pace to match her. It was nice and sweet and perfect, just as all the ones before.

Beth pulled away and let out a very content breath of air that she had held inside her lungs. "I've been waiting to do that all day," Beth openly admitted to.

Daryl stared at her for a moment before he said, "Me too, Greene. Me too."

That made her heart flutter in the most wonderful way possible.


	17. Chapter 17

The inside of the prison had a musty smell to it, one that lingered heavy in the air and invaded Beth's nostrils with the strong and overpowering scent of death. It was hard not to turn away in disgust from the rotten flesh smell.

As the group wandered through the hallways, they went by a few empty cells and Beth had been too distracted to realize she had gotten too close. Out of the darkness of the cell a walker grabbed at her, flinging itself against the cell bars as its hands grabbed at her jacket. Luckily she had been wearing one or it could have resulted in a scratch.

Beth jerked away instantly, a small noise of fear coming out from her mouth as she bumped into Carol, who then further pulled her away from the cell protectively. The walker stuck both its arms through the bars in hope of getting one of them, however was unsuccessful.

Daryl jumped out from the front of the group and rushed right over to the cell, where he aggressively grabbed the walker by its prison suit. He stabbed the walker straight into the head and then yanked the knife back out of its head, letting it drop down to the ground in a lifeless motion.

Everyone noticed.

It had not gone unseen.

No one said anything, but Beth was sure that Daryl's sudden angry reaction had heightened the interest of a few members. Beth only ducked her head when Carol pulled her arm around her and steered her away from the line of cells.

"I should have been more careful," Beth said, mainly wanting to scold herself. "That was stupid of me."

"Could've happened to any of us," she replied, trying to ease up on Beth. "Don't you be worryin' about that."

—

Clearing out the rest of the prison took time and effort from everyone. Rick, Daryl and T-Dog stumbled upon some prisoners in the cafeteria who had no idea about what was going on outside. Beth didn't know what was worse: being oblivious to the condition of the world or actually being out in it and seeing the horror. It was a debatable question that had no real answer.

However, from what she heard from Andrea, Rick was not too pleased to see the prisoners in there. Beth didn't know if it was because Rick was a cop and had risked his life every day to keep bad people off the streets, or if because Rick simply had no trust that he could willingly give out to these new people who had survived inside the prison for months on end.

"Three of them are dead," said Andrea as she leaned in to quietly tell Beth.

Beth looked over to Andrea, shocked by the news. It had only been a little while ago that she had been told about the presence of the prisoners. "What? How do you know?"

"T-Dog told me. Ring leader of the prisoners tried to get Rick killed as they were clearing out the other cell block." Andrea kept her voice low so she did not alarm anyone else who was gathered in the hallway of cell block C. We can't have that. Another ran off into some walkers so he's gone too. Eaten alive."

It struck Beth that walkers were not the only danger to her family anymore, that it was also the living that they had to fear in some cases. She guessed that she didn't blame Rick or Daryl for not being trusting of any others outside of their small group.

"What about the other prisoners?" Beth questioned, wondering what was going on with them alongside of Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog. She could not stand that thought of anything else bad happening.

Andrea looked over her shoulder at a door at the end of the cellblock, the direction that the three men had originally left in while checking out the rest of the prison. "They seem to be okay with Rick. They're willing to do whatever it takes to save their own asses and not end up dead like the other two. I think they're in for a real shock once they hear about what all goes on outside of these fences and realize that the world is not like it once was."

"I guess so."

"Hey, you want my honest opinion of them? About the prisoners left?"

"Yes."

Andrea lifted up her shoulders as she tucked her hands into her jean pockets. "They don't seem half bad. Don't look the type to cause any trouble. But that's for Rick to decide. If he says they go at any point, well, then they go. No questions asked." Andrea bent over and picked up her own bag that was rested against the prison wall along with a rolled up sleeping bag. "We should go figure out a place to sleep tonight."

Beth stared into a cell that was right in front of her with hesitant eyes. "Who knows who was sleeping in that bed before," she muttered, not too impressed by the idea.

"We'll strip off the sheets and wash them tomorrow," Andrea offered. "The prison had running water. How about that? At least we can bathe on a daily basis."

Beth looked down at her skin. She could not exactly remember the last time that she properly showered. Perhaps she was even dirtier than the prison bunk bed. Personal hygiene was put on the back burner these days.

"Come on, let's head over and look through the cells," said Andrea, nudging Beth on the shoulder with her own. "We can find the best ones before anyone else does. It gives us something to do while the boys are off trying to make more work for themselves."

Beth giggled although she believed that most all of the cells were going to be identical. "Sounds good to me."

—

When all was said and done inside the prison, it was well into the night hours. Carol found some candles in a storage closet and some working flashlights for everyone to put into the cells that they had chosen. It was not that dark in the cells due to the hallway windows that were large enough that they let in a substantial amount of moonlight, so Beth only lit a couple of the small candles and set them on a desk that was on the opposite wall of her bed.

Beth glanced around her cell as she sat on the bed with tense shoulders. The cell was rather empty, plain, and nothing like her old bedroom. She sighed at the dullness of it all, but decided she should be grateful for what she got. Beth got this feeling like she wanted to decorate, despite the idea being a bit strange considering where she was. But all she wanted to do was to make this new place seem more like a creative space for her—like an actual home.

Beth had done a daring thing earlier in the evening and clunked her bag down in the cell that was directly next to Daryl's. A daring move, indeed. She didn't want it to seem overly obvious that she wanted to be close to him, didn't want Daryl to feel like he was being suffocated by her presence being so close, but she _needed_ to be there.

Her stomach did a few somersaults when she thought about what would happen when Daryl realized that she was right next door to him. He had not come back from talking with Rick, and Beth had specifically chosen the cell she was in because she had noticed the crossbow that had been set on on the bottom of the bunk in the cell next to her on the end row of the second tier of the cells that lined the second floor of the cell block C.

Beth patiently waited for Daryl's return, contemplating that maybe she could leave and then come back after Daryl had recognized from her stuff that was in the cell that she had moved in next to him. Or maybe she should just up and move to another cell and avoid it all together. But then she thought that was a terrible idea and that she shouldn't have to run away and hide or disappear to another cell. So instead she stared at her large bag that was by the desk, wondering if she should unpack some if the things or if she should keep it all in the bag.

Just in case.

Beth doubted that the fear of being overrun by walkers would ever go away. The alertness that came with being on guard at all times was in her blood now, set deep into her bones. There would be no escaping the thoughts that consisted of the idea that there may come a day where they were forced to leave in a hurry again. She hated that feeling, but it was also necessary for survival.

"Surprised to see you here," commented Daryl from her cell entryway, leaned up against the bars of the sliding door that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. She had not seen him stroll up, the usual.

Beth twisted her head to meet his gaze. She shrugged her shoulders and let them drop back down into their normal position, nervously messing with the clean sheets that Andrea had been lucky enough to find an hour ago. "Do mind me bein' here? I can always move."

Daryl gave her this brief flash of a look as his way of saying, _why wouldn't I want you here?_ It calmed her down a bit. Her irrational fears were just that—irrational.

"Stay," he said in a low voice, almost not audible.

Beth smiled out of joy and looked down at her hands for a moment as she bit down gently onto her bottom lip. The butterflies were back in her stomach, fluttering around like crazy. "Okay. I will." After a beat, she asked, "How's your cell? Comfy enough?"

She almost meant it as a joke. The words comfy and prison cell did not belong in the same sentence. But that didn't mean that they couldn't make it comfortable. Sure it would take some time, but Beth did not think it was an impossible task.

"Pfft," Daryl expressed as he glanced down the hallway. "I'd rather sleep outside than in a cage." He continued to examine the walls of the prison, his attentive eyes drifting from corner to corner before he turned back to her. "I was always hopin' to avoid bein' in _here_ before the outbreak. Guess it was always unavoidable for a guy like me."

"It's not the same," she said, speaking the truth, trying her best to alter his mindset. She understood the place in which Daryl was coming from when he said what he did. "We're here right now out of choice and out of necessity. We chose to come here for some sort of refuge. The prisoners who were sent here, Axel and Oscar, they didn't choose to come here willingly. Don't mistake the two, Daryl. They ain't the same."

Daryl sluggishly pushed himself off the bars and crossed into the cell so he could lean against the wall facing Beth, his arms crossed against his chest in a way that accentuated his muscles. "My brother was locked up all the time when I was younger," he divulged in a sullen tone, the memories flooding back. "Even after he grew up he was in and out of jail. Always for stupid stuff. Merle never knew when to stop. Stop fightin' with dumbass drunks or stop snorting some kind of illegal drug. I was always afraid that one day he would end up draggin' me into a place like this."

"That's why you don't like being here," Beth realized as the story concluded. It all made complete sense to her. "Because you thought that it was gonna end up being your future before the turn."

He didn't answer her or confirm what she had said, only stared down at the gray floor with focus, but Beth knew she was right. And she also knew that Daryl had shared the story because he knew that she would make the connection and she would have another piece of his story.

Any part of Daryl's story was treasured by Beth.

"Being here…it's for the best," she tried to comfort him more, ease him up a bit about being inside the prison, their new living space. "Like you said, we won't have to be watchin' our backs every five seconds waiting for a walker."

"I know."

"Do you?"

Daryl heavily sighed. "Everyone's safe. You're safe here. So, yeah, I know it's for the best." He glanced around the room for a moment before his eyes settled back on Beth's blue ones. "It's late. You should get some sleep. Mornin' will be busy."

Beth nodded her head, a list of things to do around the prison already started in her mind. "Busy is an understatement."

Daryl turned back around before he exited the cell. "If you need anythin' you know where to find me."

Beth let out a soft laugh. "Goodnight."

_**A/N: Thanks again to those who have left me such sweet reviews. I received several anon reviews by the same person on a lot of my stories that were so nice and I wanted to say thanks to that person for complimenting my writing and also to my other anon reviewers since I am not able to reply to those reviews via a PM. **_

_**Also, I promise that things are going to pick up even more from here on out and get more…shall I say **__**steamy**__**? Because we all know that Beth and Daryl probably would not be able to keep their hands off each other when their relationship furthers. I mean, can you blame them?**_


	18. Chapter 18

The prison was as active as ever with the group members running around as they adapted to the new environment, collecting supplies as they cleared out the many rooms and many cells of cell block C. They put all extra supplies like sheets, towels, a few weapons, and other various things into one cell on the bottom floor so everyone knew where to go if they were in need of something.

And even though the day was packed with things to do, Maggie took the time to come and visit with Beth mid-day while she was in her cell.

"Is it just me or does it feel weird to be livin' here now?"

Beth shook her head. "It's not just you. It's everyone."

Adjusting had been hard, but they were all safe for now and that was what mattered most. It wasn't all that bad. They had beds to sleep in and food that would last a while. They actually even had running water to drink and to shower with that was not freezing cold. It wasn't burning hot, but it counted. It all counted for something.

"Maggie?"

Her sister had been examining the fresh towels that were laid on the desk in Beth's cell. "What?"

"Remember how I told you to keep you in the loop about the whole Daryl situation?"

Maggie turned around with a sly smile on her face, folding her arms across the dirty tank top she had on, her eyes narrowing. "Yes…"

Beth tucked her legs up under her as she pushed herself back onto her bed. She got comfortable before she said, "Well, I haven't done a very good job at updating you with specifics."

Her sister readjusted her arms and leaned up against the desk behind her. "Is that so?"

She nodded. "Somethin' happened."

Maggie lifted an eyebrow. "Somethin'?"

"That's right."

Maggie's face fell from the smile it once was into a frown as she stood up straight, eyes widening as she crossed over to Beth in a hastily manner, ducking down to her level. "Wait a minute. Oh my God, it happened, didn't it? Did you have sex with him? Were you safe about it? Please tell me that you were or I'll hurt him."

"Shhh," Beth hushed, motioning for Maggie to quiet down since the cells did not offer up the most amount of privacy. "Not so loud. But, no. It hasn't happened yet."

Maggie let out a relived sigh, dropping her shoulders back down into a more relaxed position after they had tensed up. "Okay. Sorry. I don't know why I assumed that. I mean, Daryl is, you know…_older _and I'm sure it's been a while for him and I know when I was your age all I wanted—"

"Please stop," Beth cringed, holding up her hand towards her sister. "I don't want to have the sex talk with you and hear about your teenage urges."

Maggie rolled her eyes as she sat down on the bed next to Beth, taking her hands in her own. "Okay, okay. But I am your sister. I just want to make sure that when it happens that you'll be _safe_."

"Maggie," Beth grumbled, knowing what _safe_ was code for. "I know."

Her sister leaned in to say, "I noticed that you're right next to his cell."

"So?"

"So," Maggie elaborated, as if it were obvious. "It's really easy access if you ask me."

Beth jaw dropped, surprised that her sister would say that. She grabbed a pillow and hid her face into it, hearing Maggie laugh next to her.

She pulled the pillow away from Beth to see that her face was all red. Maggie turned so that she sat facing Beth, putting her hands into the air to explain. "That's all I'm gonna say on the matter. Now tell me what this _something_ that happened was." Before Beth could explain, Maggie narrowed her eyes at Beth again. "Are you two together now? Because Daryl sure seems different lately. Glenn asked me about it yesterday but I didn't say anything to him."

"Well," she started, remembering. "I don't think you could say they we're _together_. I'm not sure. It's never black and white when it comes to the whole relationship thing with Daryl. He hasn't said anything specifically along those lines but I think we're about as together as we could be. He kissed me a few weeks ago and—"

"Really?" Maggie cut her off, a smile playing out across her face.

"Don't interrupt!" Beth squeaked, swatting at Maggie because she wanted to tell her story. "When we were at the barn before the prison was found. And then again when we got here that night that we slept outside. And then a few other times this week too."

Beth remembered the few kisses that she had initiated with Daryl once things had settled down for the night. He was still getting used to it all, but she could tell that he liked it, if nothing else. It was new to the both of them but Beth was more comfortable with things than Daryl was.

"You've been a busy woman these past few weeks," said Maggie, adding in a wink.

Now it was Beth's turn to roll her eyes. "Not as busy as you were when you first met Glenn," she muttered in defense. "At least I have the restraint to not jump Daryl's bones like you did with Glenn."

Maggie pretended to look offended. "I did not jump his bones."

"You did to!" she laughed. "And in a pharmacy of all places. Who even does that, Maggie?"

"Oh, _okay_. Whatever you say, Beth."

"The walls of our house were not made of stone, Maggie. Remember? It was all too easy to hear noise I would rather have not heard back at the farm. Don't even try to deny it."

"Hey, I apologized for that!" Maggie propped herself up and flashed a mischievous wide smile. "Well at least I won't have that same problem when you and Daryl are—"

Like clockwork, Daryl passed by Beth's cell and entered it, looking up with a surprised look on his face when he saw Maggie was there, who had stopped mid-sentence. Thankfully she had not continued or it would have been an awkward situation for all of them.

"Oh," Daryl mumbled, eyes going back and forth between Maggie and Beth. "I didn't realize…I'll come back."

Maggie got up before he could leave, recognizing that Beth would want to spend some time with Daryl before they all headed to the cafeteria for a meeting about scheduling specific duties to everyone to keep the prison running. "No, you can stay. I was about to leave anyways. I've got to go find Lori to check up on her."

Daryl waited until she left and was down the hallway far enough before he asked, "What were you takin' 'bout before I came in?"

Beth immediately blushed and got up from the bed, attempting to hide the red of her cheeks by going over to her journal that was on the desk so she could fuss with the edges of it until the heat of her face calmed down. "Oh, that? It was nothin'," she lied, not wanting to tell him the truth about what the playful banter had been about.

Daryl seemed fine with letting the question drop. Beth hoped that he had not heard anything as he was walking up to her cell.

"Walkers are buildin' up by the fences," he said, his hand grabbing onto the crossbow strap that was over his shoulder. "Got a whole mess of 'em out there still."

"They know we're in here." Just then Beth noticed the blood specks on Daryl's face and on his vest. She pointed to them and questioned, "How did that happen?"

Daryl looked down to see what she had pointed at. "Oh. _That_. Killed 'em. Walkers by the fences are easy to get rid of with a thin pipe. Metal goes straight through the brain. Took a few down comin' back inside."

Beth left her place by the old desk and shuffled over to Daryl, who was looking at her curiously, wondering what she was doing. She reached up and let her fingers rub the blood that was near his lower jaw away as Daryl stood completely still, his eyes locked on hers as she did. It took her back to when Daryl had taken the blood off her face when they had first arrived at the prison.

When all the blood was wiped away, Beth lingered in her place for a few more beats, absently running her thumb over Daryl's skin. "There," she quietly whispered, not moving away. "Much better."

Her eyes then connected with Daryl's dark blue ones, his eyes that she thought were so entrancing and showed his emotions even when he didn't want them to. She remembered hearing how the eyes were the window into the soul.

She believed in that.

Daryl inched forward in an almost unnoticeable way, his eyes on her lips. Her heart jolted because she knew what would follow, a small smile portrayed onto her face as she stepped closer. However, the sound of someone hitting the cell bars as they walked towards the pair made Daryl step back suddenly, and the moment was lost.

He shot her an apologizing look before T-Dog appeared at their side, the expression on his face neutral, telling Beth that he did not put any thought into Daryl and Beth being alone together. "We got a problem."

Daryl's stance immediately shifted, his protective instincts at the forefront, ready for action. "What kind of problem?"

"A walker got into the cell block," T-Dog expressed with a disappointed look on his face. He was tired, they were all tired of dealing with the threats. "We don't know how but there's a breach somewhere."

"Is everyone okay?" asked Beth, worried that the walker might have found one of her group members.

T-Dog calmed her nerves when he explained, "Everyone's fine. Rick found it and put it down. But we need all the help we can get to find wherever the bastard crawled in from. We're all meeting in the hallway by the cafeteria to hand out better weapons for the search. Who knows if anymore got in. We gotta be ready."

Although Beth would have loved to have some more time with Daryl, the imminent danger of walkers getting onto their cell block took precedence over alone time. "We'll be right down," Beth assured T-Dog, who then went down the row of cells to alert any others.

Beth slowly sighed, her disappointed eyes traveling over to Daryl once more. "We should go. Don't want any walkers getting in here again."

Daryl nodded his head in the direction of leaving the cell before he stepped out without saying a word. Beth remembered that her knife was over on her desk so she took a step back and turned to go grab it for when she was helping the others search for where the breach was in their cell block.

But before she could take another step back in, Daryl came and grabbed her by the arm and reeled her in towards him, kissing her on the mouth, his large hand cupping her face. Beth easily melted into it, her body relaxing as she grabbed the material of his plaid shirt.

One kiss and nothing could ruin her day now.

It had that much power over her.

Beth placed her fingers onto her lips after he stepped back, her eyelashes batting up at Daryl with affection. "What was that for?"

"For not doin' that before. I didn't want to miss the opportunity."

A delighted smile remained on Beth's face as she watched Daryl leave her cell and head down to the others.

_**A/N: I have an announcement! I went ahead and wrote a number of the future chapters over this past weekend and decided that this story should come to a natural conclusion at around 25 chapters.**_ _**I'm really excited to share the rest of the chapters with you! **_

_**And that steamy bethylness I promised is in the next chapter, just an fyi. **_


	19. Chapter 19

She saw them by accident.

The scars.

She headed down to the showers, a place that was seen as a blessing due to the slightly warm water that the pipes had been delivering for the month that they had been at the prison. Beth had been walking quietly down to the showers since it was evening and over half of the group were already in bed fast asleep because they had gone on a run that day and brought back a lot of necessary essentials for them all.

Beth had a towel in hand and a bar of soap as she rounded the corner. That was when it happened. She was sure that she was alone at first, her bare feet crossing over the tiled flooring. Only then did she realize that she was not, and that there was a figure to her left by a line of sinks and mirrors. Beth was surprised, stopping in her tracks so that she could greet whoever it was there, and found that it was Daryl, who had not noticed her there yet.

His hair was matted down from being damp, probably having showered recently. She was going to speak up, a smile stretching across her face as she noticed the tattoo of what looked like two devil's near his right shoulder blade, only she then saw the markings, causing that same smile to fade.

His bare back was facing her, his dark colored pants low on his hips. Beth's eyes scanned Daryl's back, the lines of red all over. She saw how the tissue had been torn up even as the wounds had healed over. There were ones that were crossed and some that were by themselves. But all of them looked like it had been painful to receive them.

Her heart hurt because of that.

She made the connection in her mind as what Daryl had said on the porch to her came back, that he was glad that his dad was dead. Her heart ached with empathy when she realized that Daryl's dad had been the one to give him the scars.

Beth didn't know what to do, she was shocked, yet not that surprised by the red lines that she could not take her eyes off of.

She opened her mouth to say Daryl's name but found that she had no voice. She waited there on the cool tile until Daryl moved to the right to put down a towel that she saw had blood on it and picked up another. His eyes looked into the mirror in front of him and instantly caught Beth in the background in her gray camisole and cotton pajama shorts, wavy hair falling over her shoulders, her eyes meeting Daryl's in the mirror.

He quickly turned around, maybe to make sure that she was actually there and she had actually seen what he had tried to keep covered. Beth was still standing still on the opposite side of the large room when she saw the look of shame and embarrassment pass through Daryl's eyes.

It killed her, it really did.

"What are you doin' here?" he gruffly asked Beth.

She lifted up her towel and pointed over to some of the showers that were along the wall. "I, uh…I was gonna..."

She didn't finish because she was too distracted by the large cut that was on Daryl abdomen, what the blood on the other towel had been from. He noticed her stare and promptly replied with, "It's nothin'. I'm fine."

He was not fine, she knew that—not fine in more ways than one.

"Daryl," she started in a small whisper.

"Don't," he stopped her. "You don't gotta."

But she could not let it go, she wouldn't be able to. Instead of ignoring it like Daryl would have wanted, she set down her towel and bar of soap behind her and walked over to him, Daryl watching her as the got closer. When she was close enough, Daryl was eyeing her uncertainty. "Let me clean that, okay?"

It took Daryl a moment of consideration before he handed over the towel to her, a moment of trust between them. Beth turned the faucet to her side on and soaked the towel in water before she hopped up onto the counter to sit, letting her legs dangle down.

Beth slowly placed her palm next to the cut on Daryl, the other hand with the wet towel starting at the edge of the wound where she began to wipe away the blood and the dirt. Daryl winced a few times as she got to the middle of the cut, having to put his hands down onto the counter, one of his hands brushing up against Beth's bare thigh. He noticed that, they both did. But to her surprise, Daryl didn't remove the edge of his thumb from against her thigh.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about this? This cut could have gotten infected," Beth asked as she finished up cleaning it out, placing the white bandage over it and smoothed it out with her fingers, careful not to touch anywhere the cut would have been too sensitive.

Daryl deeply sighed at the question. "Figured I would clean it out myself when I got back from then run. Then Rick needed someone else to do fence duty before I could wash it out."

Beth ran a new part of the towel under the water again so it was fresh for when she reached up and wiped away some fresh walker blood off of Daryl's face, her hand placing itself onto his shoulder.

"If it happens again can you promise me that you'll come to me so I can clean the cut for you? I don't want to worry that you're off not takin' care of yourself first. Promise me if you're injured that you'll let me patch you up right away."

"I promise."

She took the chance and looked him in the eyes, finding that Daryl was already staring at Beth. It was her opportunity to say what needed to be said. "They don't define who you are, Daryl," she explained about the scars she had seen, telling him what was nothing but the truth.

He knew exactly what she was talking about. The way Daryl's face changed and softened up towards her made Beth think that perhaps he had waited his whole life to hear that.

He averted his eyes to the floor again so Beth was not able to see what all played out on his face until she inched further towards the end of the sink countertop. "It's not who you are, if that's what your thinkin'. It's not."

"You sure 'bout that?"

The way he asked it sounded like he was actually questioning the concept.

"I wouldn't lie to you," replied Beth, serious.

There was a minute that passed by that consisted of Daryl examining Beth. He took a step closer to her and she picked up where she left off cleaning up his face, his eyes shutting on numerous occasions when she would run over certain areas close to his eyes.

"I like your tattoo," Beth complimented, easing the tension. "When did you get it?"

Daryl let out a low chuckle. "When I was nineteen. It was dumb and I was drunk. Hurt like hell too. I tend to make shit decisions when I got alcohol in me. But I guess it don't look that bad. I don't usually see it though, so that don't matter."

"Why wouldn't you see it?"

"It's not like I enjoy lookin' at what all is back there."

Beth clenched her teeth together for asking such a stupid question. How could she not have thought that through first? Of course Daryl didn't look in the mirror and admire the tattoo that was right next to the scars. In fact, he most likely avoided the general area as much as possible.

"No one has ever seen all of 'em before," he confessed with an added sigh at the end of the sentence.

"Oh."

It was all she could think to say in that moment.

"Yeah," he mumbled towards the floor. "But I would rather it be you than anyone else."

Beth smiled at Daryl, knowing the whole topic surrounding the scars was a hard one for him to talk about. But the silver lining of it was that Daryl was opening up to her more than he ever had before, which made the corners of Beth's heart pull together in warmth and affection for him.

Beth ran the towel under the water again and moved to wipe off some more walker blood that was on his chest, quickly admiring the muscles and the broad shoulders that Daryl had. Her other hand inadvertently wandered around on his skin as the blood came off. Daryl grabbed her hand with the towel to halt her movements. "How old are ya exactly?"

She knew this question would arise at some point, and she had dreaded the inquiry. "Seventeen," she slowly drawled out the syllables. She was quick to add, "But I've always been told that I'm more mature for my age."

"You are."

"So, why are you asking my age?"

Daryl looked down and then back up at her as if he was conflicted. "It should feel wrong."

"What should?"

"You. You being here with your hands on me. I should feel like shit 'bout it. You ain't even legal yet. I'm tryin' to force myself not to like it. That ain't workin' too well."

Beth bit her lip as she tried to strategize her next words, yet found it hard to think because Daryl had just admitted to liking her hands on him. She didn't even know what she was doing but it seemed to be working in a good way. She would even admit to herself that she liked having her own hands on Daryl, and wished that his were on her in return.

That was something she had been thinking about a lot lately.

"Legal?" she laughed. "On whose terms? The government? They ain't really around anymore if you haven't noticed. And if I can kill walkers and survive this world I think I that I can be considered _legal_ even if that stuff doesn't matter anymore. Which it doesn't."

"You wanna know what my brother would say to me if he knew about this?"

She wasn't sure if she wanted to know, but she still asked, "What?"

"I can hear his voice clear as day right now, always could before. He'd say, 'Why you botherin' with some young tail? Gonna get yourself locked up if you get caught. Better hope that pussy is worth it.' That's what he would say. Probably throw in a punch to get it in clear to me."

"Are you having second thoughts?" she questioned, the real fear of that bubbling up inside of her.

Daryl shook his head. "No. I want to be here. With you. I know that."

Beth nodded along with the reassurance. "Good. That's what I want too."

Beth watched as Daryl's eyes trailed over her for a second before they were trained on the floor once again, the safe spot to look according to him. Beth scooted as close as she possibly could to him, dropping the towel down next to her and putting her hands onto his sides so that she could encourage him to move in towards her.

Daryl's eyes snapped up to hers as he obliged and leaned in, catching her lips. They had kissed a number of times in the last month living at the prison but they were usually quick pecks before one of them had to run off somewhere to do something. Needless to say, there was built up frustration and want between the two of them.

Daryl leaning in even further, pushing Beth back somewhat before she leaned in, grabbing at his hair as she kissed him. Daryl's hands that had been by her thighs move in the faintest way against her skin, his warm fingers brushing against the flesh. Her legs parted more, allowing Daryl to step between them as they dangled off the edge of the countertop as she pulled him in, needing him there against her.

Daryl tilted his head, his hand on the opposite side of her neck as his lips found the other side, nipping at the sensitive area where her shoulder met her neck as his scruff tickled her, causing her to giggle.

Beth allowed her hands to sprawl out on Daryl's bare sides, his muscles tensing up as she did, then relaxing against the touch. She was careful not to press her luck and let her hands venture to his back. He wasn't ready for that and Beth could sense it.

She knew when to not cross a boundary.

A small moan came from Daryl's mouth when Beth acted on instinct as she hooked her legs onto Daryl's hips as he continued to assault her with wet and rushed kisses on her lips.

There was this building sensation that she felt inside of her, not something that she had ever felt before, yet something that she found she liked a lot.

It wasn't long until Daryl was breathing heavily, stopping to hover over her mouth before tilting his head the other way and connecting with her lips again. She got greedy and grabbed at the roots of his longer hair that was damp on her fingertips, pressing his body into hers more and more.

She was not the only one feeling adventurous. Daryl slowly and cautiously trailed his fingers against her thigh until he was sure that Beth was okay with him doing that, and only then did he let his large hands spread out on the sides of her thighs, his thumbs brushing over the tops near the edge of her pajama shorts. Beth was taken aback by how good it felt, good in a way that she had never experienced before and wanted more of.

With her hands then wound around the nape of Daryl's neck, she felt Daryl trace her bottom lip with his tongue. She let him in without hesitation and mimicked how he massaged her tongue, deepening the kiss and pushing it to a new level.

It all felt so right.

Beth belonged with Daryl. There was no doubt about that.

After a few minutes of the intensity rising, Daryl pulled away with a sigh, moving his hands away from her. "I should go."

"Daryl," she smiled, her eyes lazily opening up to see him there.

"You should get your shower," he said to Beth. "It's gettin' late."

She almost invited him to shower with her. Almost. The thought was nothing short of intriguing.

"Right. I forgot about that," Beth claimed, genuinely having forgotten why she came down there in the first place.

"Hey, thanks for helpin' me with the cut. You did a better job than I would've."

Beth grabbed the soft material of his shirt that was off to the side and handed it over so he could carefully pull the sleeves on. Before Daryl could button up the shirt with the cut off sleeves, she took the material in her hands and buttoned it for him, Daryl watching as her small fingers worked with the black buttons.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, right?" she questioned, already looking forward to the next day.

"It's not like I could easily hide from ya," Daryl smirked, looking as adorable as ever.

Beth breathed out, fighting the urge to pull him into her again. She finished the last top button and let her fingers drift down against the shirt before she folded her hands over each other overtop of her legs. "Okay. Goodnight."

"G'night, Beth."

And it would have been a good night, a great one if it weren't for the screams that came from down the hallway as Daryl had just stepped away from Beth. Beth hopped down off the counter, physically jolted by the yells of panic. One look back to her and Beth knew from the expression on Daryl's face that something was very wrong and they needed to get out of there quickly, extreme trepidation flowing through Beth instantaneously.


	20. Chapter 20

Two deaths.

Two more graves.

Two more people lost.

The battle never seemed to end, even when they thought that they were safe.

The only thing Beth could do was stare down at the plot covered with fresh soil that everyone was gathered around. The two members of their family were in a better place now, that was what she chose to believe.

After all, what else could she believe?

She remembered how Daryl had grabbed her hand and pulled her along the hallway the previous night after they heard the screams. He guided her to a safer spot after they heard low growls of a couple of walkers not far off. They had gotten through again, another place in the cell block that had not been sealed off enough. A number of walkers had poured through and threatened their side of the prison.

A mistake. A mishap.

They paid for it.

They paid the ultimate price.

Maggie was traumatized after it was all over and the walkers were once again sealed off from the rest. There was this blank look on her face as Beth peered over at her on the other side of the graves. Beth wished she could take that pain and sorrow from her sister and bury it in a separate grave so she wasn't haunted by it. She didn't want Maggie to feel what she felt, the endless hurt because of what she had to do to save Lori's baby upon her request.

Take a life to save a life.

Beth did not know a lot of the details, neither Maggie or Carl spoke up about their time together in a backroom as Lori was sliced open to save the infant. However, Beth had a pretty good idea of the gruesome nature of the C-section that had to be performed by Maggie that led to Lori bleeding out on the floor.

T-Dog was gone too, the only thing left of him that they found was the clothes he had been wearing before his death, clothes that were covered in blood and some guts. It was unimaginable to think about.

The deaths were a kick to the gut for them all—a stab to the chest. As far as she could tell, Lori's death affected Rick the most, who had vanished somewhere inside the prison once he found out from Carl what had happened. He did not even come out for the funeral they were having and Beth didn't know if she could understand that or not.

Only for a second did the idea of a broken group cross Beth's mind again like it had back at the farm when she was on the porch with Daryl, that was until she remembered that they would survive this, they always did. Rick's temporary absence was just that: temporary.

Or at least she hoped so.

They all needed each other no matter what the circumstances.

Beth leaned over and set some wild flowers down next to the grave of the two group members who were now gone. She felt Andrea's hand hold onto her upper arm near her shoulder as she pulled her in for a side hug, the both of them saying their last goodbyes to their fallen family members before their service concluded.

A quick glance over to Daryl resulted in her seeing the same amount of pain on his face as the rest of them expressed. He dug the graves for T-Dog and Lori by himself, opting to do it alone and take out his frustration by driving a shovel into the ground repeatedly and aggressively.

There was this feeling inside of Beth that made her want to fix things and patch the group back together again, make them all better even though there was a gaping wound in the structure of their group because of all the deaths and all the pain and all the sadness.

She wondered if the cycle would ever end—or maybe it wasn't supposed to.

Originally, Beth had hoped that the prison would mean absolute protection from walkers and everyone would be able to live out the rest of their lives. Lori would have her baby and be able to nurse her and watch her grow up. Maybe that had all been a fantasy.

Maybe she should stop pretending like the world wasn't such a horrible place.

But the thing was that Beth couldn't shut everything off and lose hope, lose her faith. She wasn't like that. Her daddy always told her that it was an important part of who she was, a core part of her personality. Beth was unwilling to give that up just because things got bad.

They could get better.

They _would_. She would make sure that it did no matter what.

—

Later that evening after a gloomy dinner, everyone was exhausted from the morning when they ridded the prison of the walkers who invaded and also from the emotional toll of the day when burying their people. Beth was in Maggie's cell where her sister held Rick and Lori's tiny baby in her arms, rocking her back and forth as the child fell asleep. It had taken some coaxing but Beth had managed to encourage Maggie to hold the new baby for the first time after the C-section, hoping that it would make her feel even the smallest bit better. And it seemed to have worked because Maggie stared down at the sleeping child with hopeful eyes as she took the formula bottle away, the necessary formula that Daryl had gotten for her right after they had learned about Lori's passing.

They didn't have a name for her yet. Rick was still gone and Carl was still thinking about possible names even though he was heartbroken over his mother's death. But Carl had a baby sister to think about now, so that offered up some distraction from the day's horrific events.

Seeing that Maggie was preoccupied with the infant, Beth left and promised to return in the morning to help care for her. She tiredly headed back to her cell when she passed by Daryl's, a quick glance in revealing that he was laid out on his bed, staring up at the top bunk with one hand behind his head to support it, absently staring at nothing.

Beth quietly entered, letting the sheet that had been tied to one of the bars of the cells fall back down so that they were alone from anyone else's view. Daryl's eyes drifted over to her as she stood there diagonal from him.

She crossed over to him and knelt down onto the mattress, moving her legs over him so that she could lay down right beside Daryl on the side nearest to the wall. She adjusted her head onto his soft striped pillow that they now shared. He was hurting just like the rest of them, only Daryl was not used to showing it on the outside and outwardly expressing his feelings.

But she knew the hurt was there and that was what mattered most.

"It was brave what you did today," she said to Daryl in a light voice, brushing a few unruly pieces of hair away from being dangerously close to his eyes. "Going out there to get her formula. She wouldn't have survived without it."

"We couldn't lose another," he replied, voice low and deep. "People are droppin' like flies out here."

The way he said the words made Beth realize just how tired Daryl was of losing the people around him. They all were, of course. But Daryl was one of those people who felt personally responsible for the safety of their group, and when things went bad he felt guilty for it.

Beth snuggled in closer to Daryl by resting her head onto his upper chest so her nose was up against his neck, smelling the faint smell of pine on his skin even though he had not been in the woods in over a week. Beth breathed in his familiar scent until she was more relaxed, her arm and hand draping over him so she could play with the ends of his cut off sleeves.

"You could have died last night."

Beth had a flashback to how a walker had snagged her as she had rounded a corner of the prison once Daryl and her had separated momentarily so he could get his crossbow, the walker coming out from the darkness as Beth had rushed towards the open door at the end of the hall.

It had been a scary moment, there was saying otherwise. Luckily for her, Beth had listened to Daryl in the first place and had a knife at her side, stabbing the walker right before it would have bitten her arm.

A close call.

Daryl had watched at the last second as Beth had killed the walker, him quickly coming to her side with his bow, eyes scanning her to make sure that she had no bites indenting her skin. She remembered the fear in his eyes as he checked. It was one of the only times she had ever seen him afraid.

"I could have," she agreed as the recent memory faded away, murmuring the words against his skin. "But I didn't. I'm still right here. Right here with you."

"You're right. You're here."

"Rick is gonna need some time," Beth explained, realizing that their leader was not in the right state of mind. It was hard to think about what Rick was going through but he had to work it out himself. No one could fix it for him and Rick couldn't fix it until he was ready. "People are gonna be lookin' to you for answers, you know that, right?"

Daryl shifted his torso around as he sighed, not because he was uncomfortable there in bed but because he was uncomfortable with the idea of being in a leadership role, replacing Rick until he was not consumed by the grief.

"I don't know what to do."

"Yes you do," she responded with confidence, not able to accept that attempt to brush his leadership skills. "Do what feels right."

"What if it's the wrong thing?"

"It won't be."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

Daryl was quiet for a minute, the two of them resting there together in peace. There was not much going through her mind other than what would happen in the days to come. It was tiresome to think about all the possibilities, all the scenarios that could play out.

"What if Rick doesn't come back from this?" she suddenly asked as the thought crossed her mind.

"He will."

"Are you sure?"

Daryl snorted. "Since when am I the optimistic one in the relationship?"

Beth perked up, moving so that she propped herself up. "_Relationship_?"

"Ain't that what it is?"

Beth shrugged her shoulders. "You never said anythin' before so I was assuming it was more undefined."

"Well it ain't anymore."

She smiled down at him, then moved her face closer so her lips pressed against Daryl's for a second. "Good."

He pulled her closer, Beth bringing her torso over so that it covered his, her long sleeved shirt falling down to expose her shoulder. Daryl took the opportunity and moved to the skin of her neck, then to her shoulder, pushing the material further down so he could plant kisses onto her collarbone.

When he moved back to her mouth, his hand wrapped around the side of her neck as their kiss deepened. All Beth could think was _more_.

That was right, she wanted more. Way more.

She grabbed onto his shirt and Daryl hesitantly pushed her back into the mattress, hovering over her. "You don't have to be gentle with me," she said in between her breaths, placing her palms onto his back so that Daryl pressed her further down against the cotton sheets.

Beth reached behind and pulled her hair out of the ponytail that it had been in because it was hurting her head and she also wanted to seem more presentable to Daryl, though she doubted it really mattered to him. On numerous occasions he seemed to look right past how she had been covered in blood from fence duty or when she had dirt all over her face and had not showered in forever. That never bothered Daryl one bit and Beth liked that about him—he wasn't caught up in the physical appearance.

Daryl chuckled. "I know you're not made of glass, Beth. But I don't wanna be too pushy. I don't wanna do anythin' too soon."

She knew what he was getting at there, knew what he was hinting at without actually saying it.

A new kind of unfamiliar frustration built up in Beth. Daryl's sweet and innocent touches were not doing a whole lot for Beth anymore.

"You're not being pushy, Daryl. I promise you that."

Daryl remained unconvinced even as he kissed her again, tongue pushing into her mouth. His hand went into her hair and pressed against the side of her head and Beth situated herself below him. She hooked one leg around him and felt the pressure of his growing arousal against her. It was new to her completely, having a man want her, and it overwhelmed her in the best way possible.

"Daryl," she whispered.

He pulled his lips off of her and hovered over her for a moment and Beth knew what was coming next. Daryl rolled off of her with a deep sigh and a grunt as he took back his place next to her. Beth felt entirely unsatisfied as he did because she knew that Daryl needed to stop, but she also knew that it was for the best. She didn't want to take things too fast either, but there was that lingering feeling like she wanted to strip off her clothes and not leave his bed.

Beth moved to get up and go to her own cell, shifting her weight onto her side so she could climb over Daryl and reach the floor. "You can stay here," he offered as Beth came to a halt.

She looked over at the entry way to the cell that had the sheet over it for some privacy before she glanced back to Daryl. "Someone could find us," she pointed out, not overly concerned about that but she thought that Daryl would be.

"I think we should let people know," said Daryl casually, as if he had never been opposed to it before then.

"You're okay with that?"

"None of us knows how much time we got left," Daryl explained. "I'd rather live out the rest of my time without havin' to hide this. It's the realest thing I've ever had."

Hearing that gave Beth a rush of adrenaline that nearly made her squeal out of excitement for their relationship to be common knowledge among the group, among their family. "You really mean that?"

"Yes."

"And you're sure?"

"Yes," he said, gently grabbing her elbow to pull her back down so she could settle in with her head on his chest again.

_**A/N: We are headed for a little bit of a time jump next!**_


	21. Chapter 21

**Four Months Later**

In the middle of August, the heat was hard to deal with. Beth had been outside for two hours and her skin felt like it might melt off of her body even though she had kept a button-up three quarter length sleeved shirt on to help make sure she would not get sunburned on her arms or her sensitive shoulders. Beth was naturally pale (borderline vampire shade as Glenn called it when he tried to be funny) but she tried her best to keep sunscreen on regularly.

Beth drove the pole into a walker's head again, something she had been doing repeatedly for the past hour alongside her sister as they worked the fences down by the edge where walkers had gathered. It was a grim sight. Bodies were all lined up at the bottom of the fence with hole through their skulls, dead brain matter on the grass. The smell was even worse due to the heat of the summer, the rotting flesh heating up. But like always, they dealt with that.

Maggie stopped for a moment, putting her hand up to her forehead to wipe off the beads of sweat. "I think we've done just about all we can for today."

Beth killed on more walker, getting more blood onto her as she retracted the pole back out. She set it down against the fence before she took off the apron she had been wearing to prevent too much walker blood from covering her. "Yeah, I'm about done for now."

Her arm muscles and shoulder had been bothering her for the past twenty minutes but she had not said anything because it was her turn to work the fence duty and she wasn't going to skip out early because of a little pain. There was no room for complainers in this world.

Beth and Maggie walked up the pathway towards the prison very slowly, their bodies tired. Beth put her hand up to block out the sun's rays that were beating down from above as she strolled up to the prison door and escaped inside with her sister into the cooler air of the inside. She was relieved that the cement walls kept the temperature inside from rising too much, even during the summer.

"Sasha and I are headed out for a run tomorrow. Do you wanna come with?"

Beth contemplated it, wondering how Daryl would feel about her going without him. Surely, he would be against it so she would need to talk him into it. "Yes. Count me in. I just need to mention it to Daryl."

Her sister lifted her eyebrows and smiled. "Good luck with that."

"Come on, Maggie, it's not like he controls my every move."

"I know, I know. But he wants you safe. And anywhere he is not around apparently is not a safe place," she sarcastically said. "You're not even safe with me outside of these fences. Me! Your own sister."

"He doesn't mean to offend you, Mag. Daryl is protective," Beth urged. "It's sweet. And I promise he doesn't mean anythin' by it. Don't take it personal."

"He's afraid of losing you," Maggie steadily assumed, her voice going lower into almost a whisper. "It makes him crazy. I've seen it in his eyes, the way he looks at you when we go down to the stream together and he won't have a view of you. It's like…it's like his world would _end_ if something were to happen."

Beth didn't respond to that, she hadn't an idea how to. She also had no idea what she would do if something were to ever happen to Daryl, so she understood the desire to want to keep her as safe as possible. She had even overheard a snippet of a conversation between Daryl and Rick one night as she went through the courtyard and through the inner structures of the outside prison. She had only picked out a few exchanges before she had left because she knew she should not have been eavesdropping. But clear as day, Beth had heard Daryl say that he would die before he let anything happen to Beth.

She held those words close to her heart after that, knowing that Daryl meant what he said.

"No one's world is ending. Maggie, we are safe," Beth affirmed confidently. "Everyone is. I mean, look around us. Everyone has been safe for months. I think it'll take some more time but Daryl will relax, let his guard down a little bit here and there."

Maggie stopped and looked around the inside of the prison, then out the window from the fences to the garden growing. "You're right, Bethy. We're doing pretty well here."

And that they were.

—

A storm started to roll in from the north, the dark clouded sky telling everyone that it was time to get back inside and seek shelter before the summer storm hit with full force. It had been sunset when the clouds covered up the sun entirely and an ominous look took over.

Beth had not gone back into the prison like the rest. Instead, she had gone up to meet Daryl in the guard tower before the sky opened up and rain came down.

The guard tower was dark but there was just enough light for Beth to see Daryl's face. She kissed him fervently with passion, grabbing at his hair as she was pinned up against the wall of the tower. They were not doing a very good job at keeping watch but there was not much around to be worried about, considering they were in the middle of a storm.

The guard tower was a good place to be, and that was something she had learned from her sister. The numbers at the prison had grown so she was actively seeking places to take Daryl so they could be alone and away from others. Even though their relationship was known throughout the prison, which everyone had responded well to, Beth still needed time for only the two of them. So when she heard from Michonne that Daryl was going to be in the guard tower overnight, she grabbed the opportunity.

Daryl was taller than Beth so she had to get onto her toes to reach his mouth. She didn't mind it that much because it reminded her of romantic movies—girls on their toes to kiss the man they are infatuated with.

Over the months, Beth had found Daryl to be addicting. He would kiss her and she would feel like they were the only ones left on the planet.

She still smelled that pine scent on Daryl when his face nuzzled into her neck and his tongue pressed onto her skin. He was hot and sweaty from the day, his clothes dirty. But she was just the same, maybe a little less, but still not the cleanest. And honestly, she liked him better this way.

Experimentally, Beth got up the nerve to dip her right hand into Daryl's pants. Her fingers flattened out against the line of skin she had never felt before. Her fingers traced down the boxer briefs, her palm cupping over top of his dick. Even though heat rose to her cheeks, she knew that Daryl liked it. His body tensed up for a second before he relaxed into her. "Beth," Daryl groaned into her ear, hot breath on her neck.

He moved her further against the wall, adding more pressure to how her hand was up against his manhood that was covered by the thin material. She could feel everything. _Everything_. And it was all so new to her and also exciting.

There was a shaky breath that fell from her lips, followed by an influx of air into her lungs so that way she could think straight with oxygen going to her brain. Beth moved her face to the side to brush against Daryl's cheek, her hand slowly rubbing him below in a way she hoped was pleasurable.

The hand that was on her waist tightened, then Daryl reached over and grabbed onto her arm, pulling her hand away, yet still had her pinned to the wall behind her. "What's wrong?" she asked, confused by this actions. "Am I doing something wrong?"

She was genuinely concerned that she was.

"Wrong? Fuck no. You're doin' everythin' right. That's the problem."

She furrowed her brows. "Problem?"

Daryl was unwilling to answer her question on the previous comment he made.

"You don't want me? Is that it?"

"It ain't that, Beth. Believe me." He then gave her these almost seductive looking eyes that Beth found to be very, very attractive. He looked down and then back up to her. "I think you already have a pretty good idea that it's not that I don't want you."

She had been so focused on figuring out what was wrong that she had not even noticed the strain that had built in Daryl's pants, also pressing against her through the layers of clothing. She thought to herself, why not just give in? They had been playing the game of how far can we go for months now. Every time she ended up in his bed at night or in a secluded area of the prison, hands would wander and actions became bolder. Especially in the last couple of weeks, Beth had wondered what it would be like stop putting up boundaries of how far they would go.

She wanted it all now.

Beth wanted to be closer to Daryl. The idea of sex had once seemed kind of scary, yet now it was exciting and made the pit of her stomach go wild. Beth wanted to know what it felt like and wanted to experience the act of love.

"So if you want me, why don't you have me then?"

Her words sounded like she was trying too hard, at least that was how she interpreted it. She almost cringed at the tone of her voice. However, Daryl seemed to find it endearing. "Don't be sayin' that. I don't have that much control when it comes to you."

Beth's heart rate picked up more by what he told her. "Oh, really? You seem to have had a lot of it in the past months…you're very patience."

"Pfft." Daryl moved away from Beth suddenly, leaving her missing his body against hers, and sat down on the opposite side of the guard tower, looking uncomfortable as he tried to find a good way to sit that would cover up his apparent arousal. "Patience was never my strong suit."

"I'm just sayin' you've been so sweet to me," she smiled. "So aware of how I felt and how to keep things balanced with us."

"What are you talkin' 'bout over there? I'm shit at this."

Beth laughed because he was ridiculous. Daryl's lack of self-confidence when it came down to relationship aspects was always there. He always questioned himself, Beth could see that. But he was really been nothing short of amazing.

Beth stepped over to him, not one to give up on things that easily. In the time they had been talking, Daryl had stuck his boots flat on the ground with his knees bent upward, hands in his lap. Daryl looked up at her curiously as she placed one foot on the other side of him, his hands removing themselves so they could be placed onto her hips once she sat down and straddled Daryl. It was not a completely unfamiliar position for Beth to be in, only this time there was more of a sexual vibe to it.

"You're a good boyfriend, Daryl Dixon."

He dropped his head a bit. "Boyfriend?"

"Yes. That's what you are. You're my boyfriend."

It was the first time she had said it out loud. The sound to it was nice, which was good because she had waited a long time for the words to be acknowledged.

"So, then I guess that makes you my girl," Daryl calmly and coolly replied.

She had to stop herself from falling into a fit of giggles. "Only yours."

Beth let her hands drape over the back of Daryl's neck as she turned her head to meet his lips, her hand then gripping onto his vest, the angel vest that he still had and the one that she loved. It looked effortlessly good on him; a good fit. She thought that he liked it when she did that, pulled on the vest. He would respond by kissing her harder whenever it happened.

Her hair was down and falling over her shoulders until Daryl pushed it back, his hand settling right below her neck, then slowly drifted downwards over her shirt and over the buttons down the middle, fingers grazing over top of her breasts. It made her suck in a breath, a smile spreading out across her face. Then she pulled on the buttons and let that shirt fall off of her shoulders, it collapsing into a pile at her side before Daryl even knew what was going on.

His hands immediately went to the newly exposed skin, hands sliding up her sides as he roughly kissed her. She pulled back slightly to examine Daryl and she saw the admiration in his eyes, but also the look of strain on his face and she knew he was really holding back.

"We can't. Not here."

It was disappointing but she knew he was right. It was not the time or the place. "I know. But that doesn't mean we can't do other things," she suggested while she pushed away some of Daryl's hair that was covering his forehead.

He smirked at her. "Right, I forgot about you still being a teenager." He took a second to roll his eyes about her age, resting his head on the back of the wall. "God, that sounds horrible."

"Are you trying to tell me I'm just some horny teenager?"

Daryl's eyes widened as he held back a chuckle, surprised that she would say something so openly. "I don't think you're the one we have to worry about," he said, his voice deep and husky. It sent a wave of desire through her.

Beth nervously laughed, leaning in to kiss Daryl again, missing his lips being on hers. There was still that part of her that wanted to tear off his clothes all the way, but the other part was stronger and told her that this was enough.

For now.

"Maggie asked me to come with her tomorrow on a run with Sasha," Beth whispered to him in between her kisses.

Daryl groaned. "Let me guess," he said, running his hand down the length of her arm. "You said yes, didn't you?"

She grabbed his hands and enclosed them into hers. "It'll be fine. I'll be there and back before you know it. Nothin' bad will happen."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that."

Daryl cocked his head to the side against the wall. "I'm not arguing with you."

She leaned in again and gently kissed him. "Good. You'll lose."


End file.
